Introducing
YOU MAY SEE HER walking through your town or along the highway—asilver-haired woman dressed in navy blue slacks and shirt, and a short tunicwith pockets all around the bottom in which she carries her only worldly possessions.
It says “PEACE PILGRIM” in white letters on the front of the tunicand “25,000 Miles On Foot for Peace” on the back. She has walked the25,000 miles. However, she continues to walk, for her vow is,“I shall remaina wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until I amgiven shelter and fasting until I am given food.” She walks without a pennyin her pockets and she is not affiliated with any organization. She walks as aprayer and as a chance to inspire others to pray and work with her for peace.
She speaks to individuals along the way, to gatherings such as church groupsor college groups, through newspapers, magazines, radio, television—relatinginteresting and meaningful experiences, discussing peace within and without.
She feels we have learned that war is not the way to peace—that security doesnot lie in stockpiles of bombs. She points out that this is a crisis period inhuman history, and that we who live in the world today must choose betweena nuclear war of annihilation and a golden age of peace. Although she doesnot ask to see results, thousands of letters testify that her journey has not beenin vain—saying, in effect,“Since talking with you I’ve decided that I shouldbe doing something for peace also.”
(This message was printed on a brief
leaflet, a few copies of which Peace
Pilgrim carried in her tunic in order
to introduce herself.)
Introduction
PEACE PILGRIM had an impact on people as she walked joyfullyacross the country that will never be adequately expressed. Sheawakened and inspired many thousands during her twenty-eight yearpilgrimage for peace.Those she touched in a personal way carry veryspecial memories—talking, laughing, walking together; listening topilgrimage stories over the dinner table or while driving her to aspeaking engagement; waving goodbyes as she quickly departed forher next destination.
From 1953 until 1981 this silver-haired woman, with cheerfulobedience to her calling, was a server in the world. As sheapproached each country hamlet or sprawling city she carried to allshe met a message of peace expressed so simply:When enough of usfind inner peace, our institutions will become more peaceful and therewill be no more occasion for war.
Following her death in 1981, a number of her friends fromthroughout the country gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, toremember her and share our experiences of her. A small groupstayed on to work on the book project, an idea which had been in ourhearts individually for some time.We have attempted in this book topresent Peace Pilgrim’s extraordinary life and teachings in theirpurest form—her own words. They were assembled from her littlebooklet, Steps Toward Inner Peace, her nineteen Peace Pilgrim’s Progressnewsletters, private conversations, excerpts from her correspondenceand talks taped by many individuals over the years. Other valuableresources were the thousands of newspaper articles and otherprinted material in the Peace Pilgrim Collection of the SwarthmoreCollege Peace Library.
Although the words are her own, this book was not written byher as an autobiography. Some material was transcribed verbatimfrom tapes, which gives certain passages a spoken rather than a writtenquality.We wish she had written her own book. People oftenasked if she would write her own story, and more than once sheanswered, “I have really written enough material for a book—it’s justnot in book form.”
Putting it into book form has been our job.
Though her basic message never changed, variety of detail andexperience color each of her communications.You may find severalof her concise statements of principles or aphorisms repeated, butusually in a new context.
The simple yet profound message of Peace Pilgrim’s life andwords is urgently needed in humankind’s search for peace. She hasgiven us renewed hope in the future of this world—hope thatenough might gain inner peace to make world peace possible. Shehas given us an example of a person who lived in inner peace andwas filled with a boundless energy that grew rather than diminishedwith age.
Robert Steele wrote in the Indian journal Gandhi Marg: “PeacePilgrim speaks with astonishing authority and confidence; shereminds one of the spokesmen of God of biblical times. However, herutterances do not sound like a fanatic or dogmatist. Instead, theysound like a deeply sincere and devoted human being who has beenlinked to a wise and ineffable vision...”
Known from coast to coast simply as Peace Pilgrim, it was herwish to stress “the message and not the messenger.” She never tolddetails of her life that she considered unimportant, such as her originalname, age, and birthplace. Since this book is about her pilgrimagein her own words,we have decided not to include these specifics,which can be found elsewhere.
“I never want people to remember me except in connection withpeace,” she said.To those of us who knew her well and saw her overa number of years she will always remain the serene, warm-heartedPeace Pilgrim—full of humor, vitality and the joy of living.
Born on a small farm in the East in the early part of this century,she grew from modest roots and, like many people, graduallyacquired money and things.When she realized this self-centered lifehad become meaningless, and worldly goods burdens to her ratherthan blessings, she walked all one night through the woods until shefelt “a complete willingness, without any reservations, to give my lifeto God and to service.”
She gradually and methodically adopted a life of voluntary simplicity.
She began what was to be a fifteen-year period of preparation,not knowing just what it was she was preparing for. She didvolunteer work for peace groups and also worked with people whohad physical, emotional and mental problems.
During this ‘preparation period’ and in the midst of many spiritualhills and valleys, she found inner peace—and her calling.
Her pilgrimage for peace began on the morning of January 1,1953. She vowed “to remain a wanderer until mankind has learnedthe way of peace.” Peace Pilgrim walked alone and penniless and withno organizational backing. She walked “as a prayer” and as a chance toinspire others to pray and work for peace. She wore navy blue shirtand slacks, and a short tunic with pockets all around the bottom inwhich she carried her only worldly possessions: a comb, a foldingtoothbrush, a ballpoint pen, copies of her message and her currentcorrespondence.
After walking 25,000 miles, which took until 1964, she stoppedcounting miles and speaking became her first priority, although shecontinued to walk daily. Her increasing speaking schedule made itnecessary for her to begin to accept rides often.
Peace Pilgrim talked with thousands of people throughout theMcCarthy era, the Korean war, the Vietnam war and since. She metwith people on city streets and dusty roads, in ghettos, suburbs,deserts and truckstops. She was interviewed by all national radio andTV networks, as well as on hundreds of local stations across thecountry. Newspaper reporters in countless towns and cities large andsmall wrote about her. She would seek them out, if they didn’t findher first, to let people hear about her message. She talked to universityclasses in psychology, political science, philosophy and sociology,to high school assemblies, civic clubs, and spoke from the pulpits ofa variety of churches.
As the years went by, her contagious zest, ready wit and simplewisdom widened her appeal, and audiences responded more andmore frequently with warm and spontaneous laughter and thoughtfulquestions.
And all of these years when many of us were increasingly afraidto go out on our streets, she walked through ‘dangerous’ parts of cities and slept beside the road, on beaches and in bus stations, whenno bed was offered. Through the years strangers became friends,inviting her into their homes and arranging speaking engagements,often a year or more in advance.
Peace Pilgrim believed we had entered a crisis period in humanhistory, “walking the brink between a nuclear war of annihilation anda golden age of peace.” She felt it was her calling to arouse peoplefrom apathy and get them thinking and actively working for peace.
And always she encouraged people to seek the real source of peacewithin, and to use the ways of peace in their relations with others.
At the time of her death Peace Pilgrim was crossing the countryfor the seventh time. She had walked through all fifty states, and hadalso visited the ten provinces in Canada and parts of Mexico. In 1976a man flew her to Alaska and Hawaii to meet his children, walk,speak in churches, and talk with the media. In 1979 and 1980 shereturned to those states, taking with her small groups of people whowished to learn more about her lifestyle. She had plans for returntrips to Alaska and Hawaii in 1984 and was giving thought to invitingothers to join her on ‘inspirational tours’ through several states in theyears that were to come.
She made what she liked to call “the glorious transition to a freerlife” on July 7, 1981 near Knox, Indiana. She died quickly in a headoncollision as she was being driven to a speaking engagement. Hermany friends throughout the country were stunned. Somehow, wenever imagined Peace would be called to leave this earth life so soon.
Yet, one friend wrote, “I feel sure the immediacy of the transition,with no cessation of her activity until it occurred, was as she wouldhave wished it.”
In her last newspaper interview she spoke of being in radianthealth. She was planning her itinerary beyond the current pilgrimageroute and had speaking engagements through 1984. Ted Hayes ofWKVI radio in Knox in an interview with her taped on July 6remarked, “You seem to be a most happy woman.” She replied,“I certainly am a happy person. How could one know God and notbe joyous?”
Messages from friends who hear of her passing continue to bereceived at the little Cologne, New Jersey post office from which hermail was always forwarded. The letters are touching: “My DearPeace, I have just now heard of your death from this earthly body...
If this is not so, please write back.” Another wrote, “I know you areone with God...I see you in the Universe...”
An editor who had interviewed her in the 1960s and became agood friend wrote, “...cycles of prayer go on in my heart, telling herof my appreciation for her teaching and impact and influence on mylife, wishing her well on her journey...”
A friend in Massachusetts wrote, “It was a great shock, to say theleast, as well as a great loss for our little planet! My heart is full atthis time for I, like thousands of other people, loved Peace so much!
But at the same time I feel her presence will always be among usthrough her beautiful teachings and the life she exemplified...”
Many have written hoping that a book would be put together tohelp spread her special message of peace and love. A few others havesaid that they are thinking of writing articles or longer works abouther.We hope this book will be a valuable resource for these andfuture writers, as well as an inspiration and encouragement to thosewho never had the good fortune to meet her.
One who captured her spirit wrote, “The seeds of peace havebeen scattered well. It is the duty of all who were touched by her tobegin the harvest.”
It is our hope that her words and spirit will continue to inspire.
And we join with you in a circle of love, with all others who knewher and were touched by her....
Free of earth, as free as air,Now you travel everywhere.
—Five of Peace’s many friendsSanta Fe, New MexicoMarch 31, 1982
CHAPTER 1: Growing Up
I HAD A VERY FAVORABLE BEGINNING, although many of youmight not think so. I was born poor on a small farm on the outskirtsof a small town, and I’m thankful for that. I was happy in my childhood.
I had a woods to play in and a creek to swim in and room togrow. I wish that every child could have growing space because Ithink children are a little like plants. If they grow too close togetherthey become thin and sickly and never obtain maximum growth.Weneed room to grow.
We begin to prepare for the work that we have to do and customarilywe have no idea what we are preparing for. So as a child Ihad no idea what I was preparing for. And yet, of course, I was inmany respects preparing. I was preparing for the pilgrimage when Ichose my rule of ‘first things first’ and began to set priorities in mylife. It led to a very orderly life and it taught me self discipline—a very valuable lesson, without which I could never have walkeda pilgrimage. I carried it right into my adult life.
I received no formal religious training as a child. (It would beless that I would have to undo from my mind later on!) My first viewinside a church was when I was twelve years old and I lookedthrough the doorway of a Catholic church to watch janitors cleanthe cathedral. When I was sixteen I entered a church for the firsttime to attend a wedding.
When I was a senior in high school I began to make my searchfor God, but all my efforts were in an outward direction. I wentabout inquiring, “What is God? What is God?” I was most inquisitiveand I asked many questions of many people, but I never received anyanswers! However, I was not about to give up. Intellectually I couldnot find God on the outside, so I tried another approach. I took along walk with my dog and pondered deeply upon the question.ThenI went to bed and slept over it. And in the morning I had my answerfrom the inside, through a still small voice.
Now my high school answer was a very simple answer—that wehuman beings just lump together everything in the universe which isbeyond the capacity of all of us, and to all those things togethersome of us give the name God.Well, that set me on a search. Andthe first thing I did was to look at a tree, and I said, there’s one. All ofus working together couldn’t create that one tree, and even if itlooked like a tree it wouldn’t grow.There is a creative force beyondus. And then I looked at my beloved stars at night and there’s another.
There’s a sustaining power that keeps planets in their orbit.
I watched all the changes taking place in the universe. At thattime they were trying to keep a lighthouse from washing into thesea. They finally moved it inland and said they had saved it. But Inoticed all these changes and I said, there’s another. There is somethingmotivating towards constant change in the universe.
When I reached confirmation from within I knew beyond alldoubt that I had touched my highest light.
Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionallyI touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touchedGod as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivatingpower, an over-all intelligence, an ever-present, all pervadingspirit—which binds everything in the universe together and giveslife to everything.That brought God close. I could not be where Godis not.You are within God. God is within you.
I was working in the five-and-ten-cent store between my juniorand senior year in high school. I just loved the work, especiallyfixing up counters so they would look pretty.They even let me fix up the windows because I liked to do that.Well, you know, I wascheaper than a window decorator!
I had two registers at my counter. One day I didn’t have theproper change in one register so naturally I went over to the otherand rang “no sale” and took out the change. Then I discovered I hadcommitted a cardinal sin. I heard them whispering, “She rang ‘nosale’!” The male floorwalker came over and said, “Come with me.”
He put me at a counter in a corner that needed fixing up. He left methere, and then came back and said,“Why did you do that?” I replied,“I still don’t know what I did. I just took change out of the register—I didn’t steal any money.” He said, “You were instructed never to ring‘no sale’.” I answered, “I wasn’t instructed at all.”
Then he went to the female floorwalker who was supposed toinstruct me. I was reinstated. But, because of the incident, she thenhated me. I knew that something needed to be done about it.Then Ipassed her desk and noticed a few faded flowers there. The nextmorning I brought her a beautiful bouquet of flowers from mygarden. I said, “I noticed those faded flowers. I know you love flowersand here are some from my garden.” She couldn’t resist them. At theend of the week we walked out of there arm in arm!
I feel sure I was being prepared for the pilgrimage when I readthe Golden Rule in history, “Do unto others what you would haveothers do unto you”—expressed in a lot of different ways and pointingout that every culture had one. It got an inner confirmation fromme. It affected my entire life. In fact, there were certain offshoots ofthe Golden Rule which carried over even into the pilgrimage.WhenI was in high school I had a little saying, If you want to make friends, youmust be friendly. If you analyze it, that is an offshoot of the GoldenRule. It is a recognition that people react according to the influencesbrought to bear upon them. I have it in my life today with my littlesaying, If you want to make peace, you must be peaceful.
I put the Golden Rule into practice just beyond my studentdays. I was given a job that one of my girl friends wanted, and I waselected to an office in the community club that she also wanted. Shethought she hated me. She said all kinds of mean things about me. Iknew it was a very unhealthy situation. So I hauled out the GoldenRule—I thought of and said every possible kind thing that could truthfully be said about her. I tried to do her favors. It fell to my lotto do her a significant favor. And to make a long story short, whenshe was married a year later I was maid of honor at her wedding. Seehow a little bit of spiritual practice goes a long way?
I know I was being prepared for the pilgrimage when I madecertain choices. For instance, I was in grammar school when I wasoffered cigarettes from a package, which I did not smoke but myfriends did. In high school I was offered all kinds of alcohol, which Idid not drink but my friends did. Then just after my student days Iwas faced with a kind of test because all of my friends at that timeused both alcohol and tobacco. There was such a push toward conformityin those days—they call it peer pressure now—that theyactually looked down on me because I didn’t do these things. Andgathered in someone’s living room I said to them, “Look, life is aseries of choices and nobody can stop you from making yourchoices, but I have a right to make my own choices, too. And I havechosen freedom.”
I also made two very important discoveries as time went on. Inthe first place, I discovered that making money was easy. I had beenled to believe that money and possessions would insure me a life ofhappiness and peace of mind. So that was the path I pursued. In thesecond place, I discovered that making money and spending it foolishlywas completely meaningless. I knew that this was not what I washere for, but at that time I didn’t know exactly what I was here for.
It was really the realization that money and things would notmake me happy that got me started on my preparation for the pilgrimage.
You may wonder how in the world I got involved withmoney and things in the first place, but you see, we are taught thesesets of opposites which are extremely confusing.
I was very fortunate in that I was only confused by one of thesesets of opposites; most people are confused by both.
On the one hand I was trained to believe that I should be kindand loving and never hurt anybody, which is fine. On the other hand I was trained to believe that if so ordered it is indeed honorable tomaim and kill people in war.They even give medals for it. Now thatone did not confuse me. I never believed there was any time underany circumstances when it was right for me to hurt anybody.
But the other set of opposites confused me for awhile...I wastrained to be generous and unselfish, and at the same time trainedto believe that if I wanted to be successful I must get out there andgrab more than my share of this world’s goods. These conflictingphilosophies which I had gathered from my childhood environmentconfused me for some time. But eventually I uprooted this falsetraining.
CHAPTER 2: The Spiritual Growing Up
My Steps Towards Inner PeaceAS I LOOKED ABOUT THE WORLD, so much of it impoverished, Ibecame increasingly uncomfortable about having so much while mybrothers and sisters were starving. Finally I had to find another way.
The turning point came when, in desperation and out of a very deepseeking for a meaningful way of life, I walked all one night throughthe woods. I came to a moonlit glade and prayed.
I felt a complete willingness, without any reservations, to givemy life—to dedicate my life—to service. “Please use me!” I prayedto God. And a great peace came over me.
I tell you it’s a point of no return. After that, you can never goback to completely self-centered living.
And so I went into the second phase of my life. I began to live togive what I could, instead of to get what I could, and I entered a newand wonderful world. My life began to be meaningful. I attained thegreat blessing of good health; I haven’t had an ache or pain, a cold orheadache since. (Most illness, you know, is psychologically induced.)From that time on, I have known that my life work would be forpeace—that it would cover the whole peace picture: peace amongnations, peace among groups, peace among individuals, and the very,very important inner peace. However, there’s a great deal of differencebetween being willing to give your life and actually giving yourlife, and for me fifteen years of preparation and inner seeking laybetween.
I was not far down the spiritual road when I became acquaintedwith what the psychologists refer to as ego and conscience, which Icall the lower self and the higher self, or the self-centered nature andthe God-centered nature. It’s as though we have two selves or naturesor two wills with two contrary viewpoints.
Your lower self sees things from the viewpoint of your physicalwell-being only—your higher self considers your psychological orspiritual well-being. Your lower self sees you as the center of theuniverse—your higher self sees you as a cell in the body of humanity.
When you are governed by your lower self you are selfish andmaterialistic, but insofar as you follow the promptings of yourhigher self you will see things realistically and find harmony withinyourself and others.
The body, mind and emotions are instruments which can be usedby either the self-centered nature or the God-centered nature. Theself-centered nature uses these instruments, yet it is never fully ableto control them, so there is a constant struggle. They can only befully controlled by the God-centered nature.
When the God-centered nature takes over, you have found innerpeace. Until that time comes, a partial control can be gained throughdiscipline. It can be discipline imposed from without through earlytraining which has become a part of the subconscious side of the selfcenterednature. It can be discipline undertaken voluntarily: self-discipline.
Now, if you are doing things you know you shouldn’t do anddon’t really want to do, you certainly lack discipline. I recommendspiritual growing—and in the meantime self-discipline.
During the spiritual growing up period the inner conflict can bemore or less stormy. Mine was about average. The self-centerednature is a very formidable enemy and it struggles fiercely to retainits identity. It defends itself in a cunning manner and should not beregarded lightly. It knows the weakest spots of your armor andattempts a confrontation when one is least aware. During these periodsof attack, maintain a humble stature and be intimate with nonebut the guiding whisper of your higher self.
The higher self has been given many wonderful names byreligious leaders, some calling the higher governing power the innerlight, or the indwelling Christ.When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Godis within you,” he was obviously referring to the higher self. Inanother place it says, Christ in you, your hope of glory, the indwellingChrist. Jesus was called the Christ because his life was governed bythis higher governing power.
When I talk about my steps toward inner peace, I talk aboutthem in a framework, but there’s nothing arbitrary about the numberof steps.They can be expanded; they can be contracted.This is just away of talking about the subject, but this is important: the stepstoward inner peace are not taken in any certain order. The first stepfor one may be the last step for another. So just take whatever stepsseem easiest for you, and as you take a few steps, it will becomeeasier for you to take a few more. In this area we can really share.
None of you may feel guided to walk a pilgrimage, and I’m not tryingto inspire you to do so. But in the field of finding harmony in ourown lives, we can share. And I suspect that when you hear me givesome of the steps toward inner peace, you will recognize them assteps that you also have taken.
Preparations.
I would like to mention some preparations that were required ofme. The first preparation is to take a right attitude toward life. Thismeans, stop being an escapist! Stop being a surface liver who staysright in the froth of the surface. There are millions of these people,and they never find anything really worthwhile. Be willing to face lifesquarely and get down beneath the surface of life where the veritiesand realities are to be found.That’s what we are doing here now.
There’s the whole matter of having a meaningful attitude towardthe problems that life may set before you. If only you could see thewhole picture, if you knew the whole story, you would realize thatno problem ever comes to you that does not have a purpose in yourlife, that cannot contribute to your inner growth.When you perceivethis, you will recognize that problems are opportunities in disguise.
If you did not face problems, you would just drift through life. It isthrough solving problems in accordance with the highest light wehave that inner growth is attained. Now, collective problems must besolved by us collectively, and no one finds inner peace who avoidsdoing his or her share in the solving of collective problems, likeworld disarmament and world peace. So let us always think aboutthese problems together and talk about them together, and collectivelywork toward their solutions.
The second preparation has to do with bringing our lives into harmonywith the laws that govern this universe. Created are not only theworlds and the beings, but also the laws that govern them. Applyingboth in the physical realm and in the psychological realm, these lawsgovern human conduct. Insofar as we are able to understand andbring our lives into harmony with these laws, our lives will be inharmony. Insofar as we disobey these laws, we create difficulties forourselves by our disobedience.We are our own worst enemies. If weare out of harmony through ignorance, we suffer somewhat; but ifwe know better and are still out of harmony, then we suffer a greatdeal. Suffering pushes us toward obedience.
I recognized that there are some well-known, little understood,and seldom practiced laws that we must live by if we wish to findpeace within or without. Included are the laws that evil can only beovercome by good; that only good means can attain a good end; thatthose who do unloving things hurt themselves spiritually.
These laws are the same for all human beings and must beobeyed before harmony can prevail.
So I got busy on a very interesting project.This was to live all thegood things I believed in. I did not confuse myself by trying to takethem all at once, but rather if I was doing something that I knew Ishouldn’t be doing I stopped doing it and I always made a quick relinquishment.
That’s the easy way.Tapering off is long and hard. And ifI was not doing something that I knew I should be doing, I got busyon that. It took the living quite a while to catch up with the believing,but of course it can, and now if I believe something, I live it.
Otherwise it would be perfectly meaningless. As I lived according tothe highest light I had, I discovered that other light was given; that Iopened myself to receiving more light as I lived the light I had.
There is a third preparation that has to do with something whichis unique for every human life, because every one of us has a specialplace in the Life Pattern, and no two people have exactly the same partto play in God’s plan.There is a guidance which comes from withinto all who will listen.Through this guidance each one will feel drawnto some part in the scheme of things.
God’s laws can be known from within, but they can also belearned from without, as they have been spoken of by all great religiousteachers. God’s guidance can only be known from within.
We must remain open to God’s guidance. God never guides usto break divine law, and if such a negative guidance comes to us wecan be sure it is not from God. It is up to us to keep our lives steadfastlyin harmony with divine law, which is the same for all of us.
Only insofar as we remain in harmony with divine law do goodthings come to us.
When you come into this world your jobs in the divine plan arethere.They just need to be realized and lived. If you do not yet knowwhere you fit, I suggest that you try seeking it in receptive silence. Iused to walk amid the beauties of nature, just receptive and silent,and wonderful insights would come to me.
You begin to do your part in the Life Pattern by doing all of thegood things you feel motivated toward, even though they are justlittle good things at first.You give these priority in your life over allthe superficial things that customarily clutter human lives.
Every morning I thought of God and thought of things I mightdo that day to be of service to God’s children. I looked at every situationI came into to see if there was anything I could do there to beof service. I did as many good things as I could each day, not forgettingthe importance of a pleasant word and a cheery smile. I prayedabout things that seemed too big for me to handle—and right prayermotivates to right action.
I was filled with a runaway enthusiasm to help others, and onecould argue that when I solved so many problems for others I wasdepriving them of the spiritual growth problem-solving brings. Isoon realized I had to leave some good works for others to do and beblessed by.
In the beginning I helped people in simple ways with errands,gardening projects, and by reading to them. I spent some time in theprivate homes of the elderly and the recuperating ill, assisting themto overcome their various ailments. I worked with troubledteenagers, the psychologically disturbed, and the physically and mentallyhandicapped. My motives were pure and much of my work didhave a positive and good effect. I used what I call spiritual therapy: Ifound all the good things that those I worked with wanted to do, andI helped them to do those things.There were some who became tooattached to me and I had to work on breaking the attachment.
My lack of expertise was more than offset by the love I extendedto others.When love fills your life all limitations are gone.The medicinethis sick world needs so badly is love.
I also did some volunteer work for the American Friends ServiceCommittee, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom,and the Fellowship of Reconciliation—over a period of at leastten years, off and on.
There are those who know and do not do.This is very sad. In thismaterialistic age we have such a false criterion by which to measuresuccess. We measure it in terms of dollars, in terms of materialthings. But happiness and inner peace do not lie in that direction. Ifyou know but do not do, you are a very unhappy person indeed.
There is a fourth preparation. It is the simplification of life, tobring inner and outer well-being, psychological and material wellbeing,into harmony in your life. This was made very easy for me.
Just after I dedicated my life to service, I felt that I could no longeraccept more than I need while others in the world have less than theyneed.This moved me to bring my life down to need level. I thought itwould be difficult. I thought it would entail a great many hardships,but I was quite wrong. Instead of hardships, I found a wonderfulsense of peace and joy, and a conviction that unnecessary possessionsare only unnecessary burdens.
During this period I was able to meet my expenses on ten dollarsa week, dividing my budget into two categories. I allocated$6.50 for food and incidentals and $3.50 for lodging.
Now I do not mean that needs are all the same.Your needs maybe much greater than mine. For instance, if you have a family, youwould need the stability of a family center for your children. But I domean that anything beyond need—and need sometimes includesthings beyond physical needs, too—anything beyond need tends tobecome burdensome. If you have it, you have to take care of it!
There is great freedom in simplicity of living, and after I beganto feel this, I found harmony in my life between inner and outerwell-being.There is a great deal to be said about such harmony, notonly for an individual life but also for the life of a society. It’s becauseas a world we have gotten ourselves so far out of harmony, so way offon the material side, that when we discover something like nuclearenergy we are still capable of putting it into a bomb and using it tokill people! This is because our inner well-being lags so far behindour outer well-being.The valid research for the future is on the innerside, on the spiritual side, so that we will be able to bring these twointo balance—and so that we will know how to use well the outerwell-being we already have.
Purifications.
Then I discovered that there were some purifications required ofme. The first one is such a simple thing: it is purification of the body.
This had to do with my physical living habits. I used to eat all thestandard foods. I shudder now to think of what I used to dump intothis temple of the spirit.
I did not take care of my bodily temple when I was very young;this only happened later in life. It was five years after I felt a completewillingness to give my life that I began to take care of my bodilytemple—five years! Now I eat mostly fruits, nuts, vegetables, wholegrains (preferably organically grown) and perhaps a bit of milk andcheese.This is what I live on and walk on.
There was a time when I had the caffeine habit. I would get upin the morning and have my cup of coffee first thing. One morning,when I had just taken my cup of coffee, I sat and looked at thatcoffee cup and said, “You’re depending on that to get you perking inthe morning! I’m not going to be a slave to caffeine.This is going tostop right here!” And it did. I never touched it again. I missed it fora few days, but I’m stronger than that cup of coffee!
I began to realize that I was disobeying my rule of life which says:
I will not ask anyone to do for me things that I would refuse to do for myself.
Now, I wouldn’t kill any creature—I wouldn’t even kill a chicken ora fish—and therefore I stopped immediately eating all flesh.
I have not eaten flesh for many years, not meat or fish or fowl. Ihave learned since that it is bad for your health, but at that time I justextended my love to include not only all my fellow human beings butalso my fellow creatures, and so I stopped hurting them and Istopped eating them.
I did not know at that time that flesh eating was bad for thespirit. I just knew it was something I could no longer do because itwas contrary to one of my rules of life. Then I learned a little laterfrom a doctor that flesh eating leaves poisonous residues in the body,which would also have made me a vegetarian. I believe in practicingprevention since the body is the temple of the spirit.
Then I learned from a college professor, who wrote a book onthe subject, that it takes many times the land to raise the creatureswe eat as it would to raise fruits or vegetables or grains. Since I wantthe maximum number of God’s children to be fed, that also wouldmake me a vegetarian.
The difficulty is we have not learned to stop killing each other yet.
That’s our present lesson—not to kill each other.To learn the lessonof sharing and the lesson of non-killing of man by man.The lesson ofnon-killing of creatures is a little bit into the future, though those ofus who know better need to live up to our highest light.
When I realized white flour and white sugar were bad for yourhealth I stopped eating them.When I realized highly seasoned thingswere bad I quit them. And when I realized all processed foods containsubstances that are bad for the body I quit eating them. Evenmost water out of the tap is a chemical cocktail. I would suggest bottledor distilled water.
I know enough about food to nourish my body properly and Ihave excellent health. I enjoy my food, but I eat to live. I do not liveto eat, as some people do, and I know when to stop eating. I am notenslaved by food.
People can still be hungry after eating large quantities of wrongfoods. In fact, you can suffer from malnutrition even though you consistentlyovereat wrong foods.You can begin a healthy diet by havingonly good, wholesome foods available. Eat slowly and chew yourfood well, as I do.Then make food a very incidental part of your lifeby filling your life so full of meaningful things that you’ll hardly havetime to think about food.
In my eating and sleeping habits I have the closest contact withnature that is possible for me. Each day I get as much fresh air andsunshine and contact with nature as I can. I want to do much of myliving out-of-doors and be a part of the landscape. Rest and exerciseare important. I am not one who consistently goes without sleep.
When possible, I go to bed at dusk and get eight hours of sleep. I takemy exercise by walking and swinging my arms which makes it a completeform of exercise.
You’d think purification of the body might be the first area inwhich people would be willing to work, but from practical experienceI’ve discovered it’s often the last—because it might mean gettingrid of some of our bad habits, and there is nothing we cling tomore tenaciously.
There is a second purification: purification of thought. If you realizedhow powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negativethought. They can be a powerful influence for good whenthey’re on the positive side, and they can and do make you physicallyill when they’re on the negative side. I don’t eat junk foods and Idon’t think junk thoughts! Let me tell you, junk thoughts can destroyyou even more quickly than junk food. Junk thoughts are somethingto be wary of.
Let me tell you a story of a man adversely affected by negativethoughts. He was sixty-five years old when I knew him and he wasmanifesting symptoms of what was called a chronic physical illness.
When I talked to him I realized there was some bitterness in his life.
However, I couldn’t put my finger on it right away because I saw hewas getting along well with his wife, his grown children and thefolks in his community. But the bitterness was there just the same. Ifound that he was harboring bitterness against his father who hadbeen dead for many long years because his father had educated hisbrother and not him. He was a very intellectual person so I talked tohim at length. When he, the oldest son, was to be educated, hisfather had absolutely not enough money to do it. In fact, the familywas very poor at that time.There were several sisters after him andI think three of them hadn’t been educated either. His brother wasthe youngest, and by that time his father had more money and wasable to educate the brother. He didn’t begrudge his brother the education,he just thought he should have gotten it too. When he sawintellectually that his father had done the best he could with both ofhis sons, then he was able to release the bitterness he had been harboring.
That so-called chronic illness began to fade away and soonthe condition was much improved and then it was gone.
If you’re harboring the slightest bitterness toward anyone, or anyunkind thoughts of any sort whatever, you must get rid of themquickly.They are not hurting anyone but you. It isn’t enough just todo right things and say right things—you must also think right thingsbefore your life can come into harmony.
During the preparation period I wasn’t fully identifying with thereal me, I was just learning. I was very forgiving toward others, thatwas no problem, but I was very unforgiving toward myself. If I didsomething that wasn’t the highest, I would say to myself, “You oughtto know better.” And then one day as I was combing my hair at themirror, I looked at myself and said, “You vain thing! Why do youthink you know better when you forgive everyone else for not knowingbetter? You’re not any better than they are.”
You must learn to forgive yourself as easily as you forgive others.
And then take a further step and use all that energy that you used incondemning yourself for improving yourself. After that I reallystarted to get somewhere—because there’s only one person you canchange and that’s yourself. After you have changed yourself, youmight be able to inspire others to look for change.
It took the living quite awhile to catch up with the believing, butit finally did. And when it did, a progress began which never ended.
As I lived up to the highest light I had, higher and higher light cameto me.
The third purification is the purification of desire. What are thethings you desire? Do you desire superficial things like pleasures—new items of wearing apparel or new household furnishings or cars?
Since you are here to get yourself in harmony with the laws thatgovern human conduct and with your part in the scheme of things,your desires should be focused in this direction. It’s very importantto get your desires centered so you will desire only to do God’s willfor you.You can come to the point of oneness of desire, just to knowand do your part in the Life Pattern. When you think about it, isthere anything else as really important to desire?
There is one more purification, and that is purification of motive.
What is your motive for whatever you may be doing? If it is puregreed or self-seeking or the wish for self-glorification, I would say,don’t do that thing. Don’t do anything you would do with such amotive. But that isn’t easy because we tend to do things with verymixed motives. I’ve never found a person who had purely badmotives.There may be such a person, I have never encountered one.
I do encounter people who constantly have mixed motives. Goodand bad motives all mixed together. For instance, I met a man in thebusiness world and he admitted that his motives were not the highest,and yet mixed in with them were good motives—providing forhis family, doing some good in his community. Mixed motives!
I talk to groups studying the most advanced spiritual teachingsand sometimes these people wonder why nothing is happening intheir lives. Their motive is the attainment of inner peace for themselves—which of course is a selfish motive.You will not find it withthis motive. The motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be anoutgoing motive. Service, of course, service. Giving, not getting. Yourmotive must be good if your work is to have good effect.The secretof life is being of service.
I knew a man who was a good architect. It was obviously hisright work, but he was doing it with the wrong motive. His motivewas to make a lot of money and to keep ahead of the Joneses. Heworked himself into an illness, and it was shortly after that I methim. I got him to do little things for service. I talked to him about thejoy of service and I knew that after he had experienced this he couldnever go back into really self-centered living.We corresponded a bitafter that. A few years later I hardly recognized him when I stoppedin to see him. He was such a changed man! But he was still an archi-tect. He was drawing a plan and he talked to me about it: “You see,I’m designing it this way to fit into their budget, and then I’ll set iton their plot of ground to make it look nice ...” His motive was to beof service to the people he drew plans for. He was a radiant andtransformed person. His wife told me that his business had increasedbecause people were now coming to him from miles around forhome designs.
I’ve met a few people who had to change their jobs in order tochange their lives, but I’ve met many more people who merely hadto change their motive to service in order to change their lives.
Relinquishments.
Now, the last part deals with relinquishments. Once you’vemade the first relinquishment you have found inner peace, becauseit’s the relinquishment of self-will.
You can work on subordinating the lower self by refraining fromdoing the not-good things you may be motivated toward—not suppressingthem, but transforming them so that the higher self can takeover your life. If you are motivated to do or say a mean thing, you canalways think of a good thing.You deliberately turn around and usethat same energy to do or say a good thing instead. It works!
The second relinquishment is the relinquishment of the feeling ofseparateness.We begin feeling very separate and judging everything asit relates to us, as though we were the center of the universe. Evenafter we know better intellectually, we still judge things that way. Inreality, of course, we are all cells in the body of humanity.We are notseparate from our fellow humans. The whole thing is a totality. It’sonly from that higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to loveyour neighbor as yourself. From that higher viewpoint therebecomes just one realistic way to work, and that is for the good ofthe whole. As long as you work for your selfish little self, you’re justone cell against all those other cells, and you’re way out of harmony.
But as soon as you begin working for the good of the whole, you findyourself in harmony with all of your fellow human beings.You see,it’s the easy, harmonious way to live.
Then there is the third relinquishment, and that is the relinquishmentof all attachments. No one is truly free who is still attached tomaterial things, or to places, or to people. Material things must beput into their proper place.They are there for use. It’s all right to usethem, that’s what they’re there for. But when they’ve outlived theirusefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on tosomeone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquishwhen it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialisticage a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.We arenot free.
I considered myself liberated long before it became the fashion.
First I liberated myself from debilitating habits, and went on to freemyself of combative, aggressive thoughts. I have also cast aside anyunnecessary possessions.This, I feel, is true liberation.
There is another kind of possessiveness. You do not possess any otherhuman being, no matter how closely related that other may be. Nohusband owns his wife; no wife owns her husband; no parents owntheir children.When we think we possess people there is a tendencyto run their lives for them, and out of this develop extremely inharmonioussituations. Only when we realize that we do not possessthem, that they must live in accordance with their own inner motivations,do we stop trying to run their lives for them, and then wediscover that we are able to live in harmony with them.Anything thatyou strive to hold captive will hold you captive—and if you desirefreedom you must give freedom.
Associations formed in this earth life are not necessarily for theduration of the life span. Separation takes place constantly, and aslong as it takes place lovingly not only is there no spiritual injury, butspiritual progress may actually be helped.
We must be able to appreciate and enjoy the places where wetarry and yet pass on without anguish when we are called elsewhere.
In our spiritual development we are often required to pull up rootsmany times and to close many chapters in our lives until we are nolonger attached to any material thing and can love all people withoutany attachment to them.
Now the last: the relinquishment of all negative feelings. I want tomention just one negative feeling which the nicest people still experience,and that negative feeling is worry.Worry is not concern,which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation.
Worry is a useless mulling over of things we cannot change.
One final comment about negative feelings, which helped mevery much at one time and has helped others. No outward thing—nothing, nobody from without—can hurt me inside, psychologically.
I recognized that I could only be hurt psychologically by my ownwrong actions, which I have control over; by my own wrong reactions(they are tricky, but I have control over them too); or by my owninaction in some situations, like the present world situation, that needaction from me.When I recognized all this how free I felt! And I juststopped hurting myself. Now someone could do the meanest thingto me and I would feel deep compassion for this out-of-harmonyperson, this sick person, who is capable of doing mean things. I certainlywould not hurt myself by a wrong reaction of bitterness oranger.You have complete control over whether you will be psychologicallyhurt or not, and anytime you want to, you can stop hurtingyourself.
These are my steps toward inner peace that I wanted to sharewith you. There is nothing new about this. This is universal truth. Imerely talked about these things in everyday words in terms of myown personal experience with them.The laws which govern this universework for good as soon as we obey them, and anything contraryto these laws doesn’t last long. It contains within itself the seeds of itsown destruction.The good in every human life always makes it possiblefor us to obey these laws.We do have free will about all this, andtherefore how soon we obey and thereby find harmony, both withinourselves and within our world, is up to us.
During this spiritual growing up period I desired to know and doGod’s will for me. Spiritual growth is not easily attained, but it iswell worth the effort. It takes time, just as any growth takes time.
One should rejoice at small gains and not be impatient, as impatiencehampers growth.
The path of gradual relinquishment of things hindering spiritualprogress is a difficult path, for only when relinquishment is completedo the rewards really come. The path of quick relinquishment is aneasy path, for it brings immediate blessings. And when God fills yourlife, God’s gifts overflow to bless all you touch.
To me, it was an escape from the artificiality of illusion into therichness of reality. To the world it may seem that I had given upmuch. I had given up burdensome possessions, spending time meaninglessly,doing things I knew I should not do and not doing things Iknew I should do. But to me it seemed that I had gained much—even the priceless treasures of health and happiness.
The Attainment of Inner Peace.
There were hills and valleys, lots of hills and valleys, in that spiritualgrowing up period.Then in the midst of the struggle there camea wonderful mountaintop experience—the first glimpse of what thelife of inner peace was like.
That came when I was out walking in the early morning. All of asudden I felt very uplifted, more uplifted than I had ever been. Iremember I knew timelessness and spacelessness and lightness. I did notseem to be walking on the earth.There were no people or even animalsaround, but every flower, every bush, every tree seemed towear a halo. There was a light emanation around everything andflecks of gold fell like slanted rain through the air.This experience issometimes called the illumination period.
The most important part of it was not the phenomena: theimportant part of it was the realization of the oneness of all creation.
Not only all human beings—I knew before that all human beings areone. But now I knew also a oneness with the rest of creation. Thecreatures that walk the earth and the growing things of the earth.Theair, the water, the earth itself. And, most wonderful of all, a onenesswith that which permeates all and binds all together and gives life to all. Aoneness with that which many would call God.
I have never felt separate since. I could return again and again tothis wonderful mountaintop, and then I could stay there for longerand longer periods of time and just slip out occasionally.
The inspiration for the pilgrimage came at this time. I sat highupon a hill overlooking rural New England. The day before I hadslipped out of harmony, and the evening before I had thought to God,“It seems to me that if I could always remain in harmony I could beof greater usefulness—for every time I slip out of harmony itimpairs my usefulness.”
When I awoke at dawn I was back on the spiritual mountaintopwith a wonderful feeling. I knew that I would never need to descendagain into the valley. I knew that for me the struggle was over, thatfinally I had succeeded in giving my life or finding inner peace. Againthis is a point of no return.You can never go back into the struggle.
The struggle is over now because you will to do the right thing andyou don’t need to be pushed into it.
I went out for a time alone with God.While I was out a thoughtstruck my mind: I felt a strong inner motivation toward the pilgrimage—toward this special way of witnessing for peace.
I saw, in my mind’s eye, myself walking along and wearing thegarb of my mission ... I saw a map of the United States with the largecities marked—and it was as though someone had taken a coloredcrayon and marked a zigzag line across, coast to coast and border toborder, from Los Angeles to New York City. I knew what I was to do.
And that was a vision of my first year’s pilgrimage route in 1953!
I entered a new and wonderful world. My life was blessed witha meaningful purpose.
However, progress was not over. Great progress has taken placein this third phase of my life. It’s as though the central figure of thejigsaw puzzle of my life is complete and clear and unchanging, andaround the edges other pieces keep fitting in.There is always a growingedge, but the progress is harmonious.There is a feeling of alwaysbeing surrounded by all of the good things, like love and peace andjoy. It seems like a protective surrounding, and there is an unshakeablenesswithin which takes you through any situation you may needto face.
The world may look at you and believe that you are facing greatproblems, but always there are the inner resources to easily overcomethe problems. Nothing seems difficult.There is a calmness anda serenity and unhurriedness—no more striving or straining aboutanything.That’s a very important thing I’ve learned. If your life is inharmony with your part in the Life Pattern, and if you are obedientto the laws which govern this universe, then life is full and life is goodbut life is nevermore overcrowded. If it is overcrowded, then you aredoing more than is right for you to do—more than is your job to doin the total scheme of things.
Now there is a living to give instead of to get.As you concentrateon the giving, you discover that just as you cannot receive withoutgiving, so neither can you give without receiving—even the mostwonderful things like health and happiness and inner peace.There is afeeling of endless energy, it just never runs out, it seems to be as endlessas air.You seem to be plugged in to the source of universal energy.
You are now in control of your life.Your higher nature, which iscontrolled by God, controls the body, mind, and emotions. (The egois never really in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfortand convenience on the part of the body, by demands of themind, and by outbursts of the emotions.)I can say to my body, “Lie down there on that cement floor andgo to sleep,” and it obeys. I can say to my mind, “Shut out everythingelse and concentrate on the job before you,” and it is obedient.
I can say to my emotions, “Be still, even in the face of thisterrible situation,” and they are still. A great philosopher has said, hewho seems to be out of step may be following a different drummer. And nowyou are following a different drummer: the higher nature instead ofthe lower nature.
When you have done the spiritual growing up you realize thatevery human being is of equal importance, has work to do in thisworld, and has equal potential. We are in many varied stages ofgrowth; this is true because we have free will.You have free will as towhether you will finish the mental and emotional growing up. Manychoose not to. You have free will as to whether you will begin the spiritualgrowing up.The beginning of it is the time when you feel completelywilling, without any reservations, to leave the self-centeredlife. And most choose not to. But it was doing that growth and findinginner peace that prepared me for the pilgrimage that I walk today.
Looking through the eyes of the divine nature you see theessence within the manifestation, the creator within the creation, andit is a wonderful, wonderful world!
I realized in 1952 that it was the proper time for a pilgrim to stepforth.The war in Korea was raging and the McCarthy era was at itsheight. It was a time when congressional committees consideredpeople guilty until they could prove their innocence.There was greatfear at that time and it was safest to be apathetic.Yes, it was most certainlya time for a pilgrim to step forward, because a pilgrim’s job isto rouse people from apathy and make them think.With the last bitof money I had left, I bought not only paper and stencil for my firstmessages but material for my first tunic. Although I designed it, thesewing was done by a lady in California, and the lettering waspainted by a man who was a sign painter. My initial reaction when Ifirst put it on was a wonderful ‘rightness’ about it, and I immediatelyaccepted it.
CHAPTER 3: The Pilgrimage
APILGRIM IS A WANDERER WITH A PURPOSE.A pilgrimage can beto a place—that’s the best known kind—but it can also be for athing. Mine is for peace, and that is why I am a Peace Pilgrim.
My pilgrimage covers the entire peace picture: peace amongnations, peace among groups, peace within our environment, peaceamong individuals, and the very, very important inner peace—whichI talk about most often because that is where peace begins.
The situation in the world around us is just a reflection of thecollective situation. In the final analysis, only as we become morepeaceful people will we be finding ourselves living in a more peacefulworld.
In the Middle Ages the pilgrims went out as the disciples weresent out—without money, without food, without adequate clothing—and I know that tradition. I have no money. I do not accept anymoney on my pilgrimage. I belong to no organization. There is noorganization backing me. I own only what I wear and carry.There isnothing to tie me down. I am as free as a bird soaring in the sky.
I walk until given shelter, fast until given food. I don’t ask—it’sgiven without asking. Aren’t people good! There is a spark of goodin everybody, no matter how deeply it may be buried, it is there. It’swaiting to govern your life gloriously. I call it the God-centerednature or the divine nature. Jesus called it the Kingdom of Godwithin.
Now, a pilgrim walks prayerfully, and a pilgrim walks as anopportunity to come in contact with many people and perhapsinspire them to do something for peace in their own way. For thatpurpose I wear my short tunic with PEACE PILGRIM on the front and25,000 Miles On Foot for Peace on the back. It makes my contacts forme in the kindest way...and I like to be kind.
You’re in a much better position to talk with people when theyapproach you than when you approach them.Those individuals whoare attracted to me are either genuinely interested in some phase ofpeace or just have a good lively curiosity. Both kinds are very worthwhilepeople. Then I have time to share with people my peacemessage which says in one sentence:
This is the way of peace—overcome evil with good,and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.
The Golden Rule would do equally well. There is nothing newabout that except the practice of it. But I consider it the lesson fortoday and so it becomes the message of the peace pilgrimage. Pleasedon’t say lightly that these are just religious concepts and not practical.
These are laws governing human conduct, which apply as rigidlyas the law of gravity.When we disregard these laws in any walk of life,chaos results.Through obedience to these laws this world of ours willenter a period of peace and richness of life beyond our fondest dreams.
The key word for our time is practice.We have all the light weneed, we just need to put it into practice.
What I walk on is not the energy of youth, it is a better energy.
I walk on the endless energy of inner peace that never runs out!
When you become a channel through which God works there are nomore limitations, because God does the work through you: you aremerely the instrument—and what God can do is unlimited. Whenyou are working for God you do not find yourself striving and straining.
You find yourself calm, serene and unhurried.
My pilgrimage is not a crusade, which connotes violence.Thereis no attempt to force something on people. A pilgrimage is a gentlejourney of prayer and example. My walking is first of all a prayer forpeace. If you give your life as a prayer you intensify the prayerbeyond all measure.
In undertaking this pilgrimage I do not think of myself as an individualbut rather as an embodiment of the heart of the world whichis pleading for peace. Humanity, with fearful, faltering steps walks aknife-edge between abysmal chaos and a new renaissance, whilestrong forces push toward chaos.Yet there is hope. I see hope in thetireless work of a few devoted souls. I see hope in the real desire forpeace in the heart of humanity, even though the human family gropestoward peace blindly, not knowing the way.
My pilgrimage is an opportunity to talk with my fellow humanbeings about the way of peace. It is also a penance for whatever I mayhave contributed by commission or omission to the tragic situationin the world today. It is a prayer that this war-weary world of ourswill somehow find the way to peace before a holocaust descends.
My mission is to help promote peace by helping others to findinner peace. If I can find it, you can too. Peace is an idea whose timehas come.
I began my pilgrimage on the first of January in 1953. It is myspiritual birthday of sorts. It was a period in which I was mergedwith the whole. No longer was I a seed buried under the ground, butI felt as a flower reaching out effortlessly toward the sun. On that dayI became a wanderer relying upon the goodness of others. It wouldbe a pilgrim’s journey undertaken in the traditional manner: on footand on faith. I left behind all claims to a name, personal history, possessionsand affiliations.
It would be a glorious journey.
The birthplace of the pilgrimage was at the Tournament of Rosesparade in Pasadena, California. I walked ahead along the line ofmarch, talking to people and handing out peace messages, and noticingthat the holiday spirit did not lessen the genuine interest in peace.
When I had gone about half way a policeman put his hand on myshoulder and I thought he was going to tell me to get off the line ofmarch. Instead he said, “What we need is thousands like you.”
What happened to me in the Los Angeles area in the beginningwas almost miraculous. All channels of communication were openedto me and my little peace message. I spent hours being interviewedby newspaper reporters and being photographed by newspaper pho-tographers.The story of the pilgrimage and even my picture went outover all the wire services. Besides doing two live television programs,I spent hours recording for radio and the television newscasts.
Newspapers all along the line from Los Angeles to San Diegowere interested. In San Diego I did one television program and fourradio shows. The head of the San Diego Council of Churchesapproved of my message and my three petitions, and they werewidely circulated in the churches.
When I was not on the road I was speaking and gathering signaturesfor the three peace petitions which I carried. The first was ashort plea for immediate peace in Korea. It read: “Let the killing inKorea cease! Then deal with this conflict situation according to the only principleswhich can solve it—overcome evil with good and falsehood with truthand hatred with love.”
The second petition was directed to the President and congressionalleaders requesting the installation of a Peace Department.
It read: “This is the way of peace, overcome evil with good and falsehood withtruth and hatred with love. We plead for the establishment of a Peace Department,with a Secretary of Peace who accepts these principles—and with allconflicts at home and abroad to be referred to this Peace Department.”
The third petition was a plea to the United Nations and theworld leaders for world disarmament and reconstruction: “If youwould find the way of peace you must overcome evil with good and falsehoodwith truth and hatred with love.We plead with you to free us all from thecrushing burden of armaments, to free us from hatred and fear, so that we mayfeed our hungry ones, mend our broken cities, and experience a richness of lifewhich can only come in a world that is unarmed and fed.”
I accumulated signed petitions from individuals, peace groups,churches and organizations along my pilgrimage route, storing themin a satchel which was carried for the occasion. I presented them toofficials at both the White House and the United Nations at the conclusionof my first walk across the country.And I am thankful that myfirst petition, “Let the killing in Korea cease...” was at least partiallygranted before the first year was over.
At Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego, I was received by the mayor, and he gave me a message to carry to themayor of New York City. I also carried a message from the CaliforniaIndians to the Arizona Indians.
While passing through San Diego that first year I was introducedinto public speaking. A high school teacher approached me onthe street and inquired if I would speak to her class. I told her in allfairness that as Peace Pilgrim I had never spoken to a group before.
She assured me that it would be fine and asked only that I wouldanswer the students’ questions. I agreed. If you have somethingworthwhile to say, you can say it. Otherwise, why in the world wouldyou want to be speaking?
I have no problem speaking before a group.When you have completelysurrendered to God’s will, the way seems easy and joyous. Itis only before you have completely surrendered that the way seemsdifficult. When I speak, energy flows through me like electricityflows through a wire.
In the beginning, my speaking engagements were often arrangedon the spur of the moment. As I was walking past a school, the principalcame out and said, “My students are looking at you from thewindows. If you would come in and talk to them we’ll gather themin the gymnasium.” So I did.
Then at noon, a man from one of the civic clubs approached meand said, “My speaker disappointed us.Will you come and speak atour luncheon?” And of course I did.
The same afternoon a college professor on the way to his classstopped me and asked, “Could I take you to my students?” So I spoketo his class.
Then at night a minister and his wife going to a church supperstopped me and said, “Would you consider coming and eating withus, and speaking to us?” And I did. They also gave me a bed for thenight. And all this happened as I was walking along one day withoutany prior engagements.
I now keep very busy speaking for peace at colleges, highschools, churches, and so forth—but always I am happily busy. Myslogan of first things first has enabled me to take care of my speakingengagements, keep my mail up to date and also do some walking.
Once in Cincinnati I gave seven sermons at seven different placesof worship in one day. On that particular Sunday I gave local ministersthe day off!
No collections are permitted at meetings that are held for me. Inever accept a penny for the work I do. Any money sent to methrough the mail is used to publish my literature which is sent free ofcharge to anyone who requests it.
Truth is the pearl without price. One cannot obtain truth bybuying it—all you can do is to strive for spiritual truth and when oneis ready, it will be given freely. Nor should spiritual truth be sold, lestthe seller be injured spiritually. You lose any spiritual contact themoment you commercialize it.Those who have the truth would notbe packaging it and selling it, so anyone who is selling it, really doesnot possess it.
When I first started out I thought the pilgrimage might entailsome hardships. But I was determined to live at need level, that is, Ididn’t want more than I need when so many have less than they need.
Penance is the willingness to undergo hardships for the achievementof a good purpose. I was willing. But when hardships came I foundmyself lifted above them. Instead of hardship, I found a wonderfulsense of peace and joy and conviction that I was following God’s will.
Blessings instead of hardships are showered upon me.
I remember my first lesson on the pilgrimage was the lesson ofreceiving. I had been on the giving side for many years and I neededto learn to accept as gracefully as I had been able to give, in order togive the other fellow the joy and blessing of giving. It’s so beautifulwhen you live to give.To me it’s the only way to live, because as yougive you receive spiritual blessings.
I was tested severely in the beginning of my pilgrimage. Life is aseries of tests; but if you pass your tests, you look back upon them asgood experiences. I’m glad I had these experiences.
If you have a loving and positive attitude toward your fellowhuman beings, you will not fear them. ‘Perfect love casteth out all fear.’
One test happened in the middle of the night in the middle of theCalifornia desert. The traffic had just about stopped, and therewasn’t a human habitation within many miles. I saw a car parked atthe side of the road.The driver called to me saying, “Come on, get inand get warm.” I said, “I don’t ride.” He said, “I’m not going anywhere,I’m just parked here.” I got in. I looked at the man. He was abig, burly man—what most people would call a rough looking individual.
After we had talked a while he said, “Say, wouldn’t you like toget a few winks of sleep?” And I said, “Oh, yes, I certainly would!”
And I curled up and went to sleep.When I awoke I could see the manwas very puzzled about something, and after we had talked for quitesome time he admitted that when he had asked me to get into the carhe had certainly meant me no good, adding, “When you curled up sotrustingly and went to sleep, I just couldn’t touch you!”
I thanked him for the shelter and began walking away.As I lookedback I saw him gazing at the heavens, and I hoped he had found Godthat night.
No one walks so safely as one who walks humbly and harmlesslywith great love and great faith. For such a person gets through to thegood in others (and there is good in everyone), and therefore cannotbe harmed. This works between individuals, it works betweengroups and it would work between nations if nations had the courageto try it.
Once I was hit by a disturbed teenage boy whom I had taken fora walk. He wanted to go hiking but was afraid he might break a legand be left lying there. Everyone was afraid to go with him. He wasa great big fellow and looked like a football player, and he was knownto be violent at times. He had once beaten his mother so badly thatshe had to spend several weeks in the hospital. Everybody was afraidof him, so I offered to go with him.
As we got up to the first hilltop everything was going fine.Thena thunderstorm came along. He was very terrified because the thundershowerwas very close. Suddenly he went off the beam and camefor me, hitting at me. I didn’t run away although I guess I could have—he had a heavy pack on his back. But even while he was hitting meI could only feel the deepest compassion toward him. How terribleto be so psychologically sick that you would be able to hit a defenselessold woman! I bathed his hatred with love even while he hit me.
As a result the hitting stopped.
He said, “You didn’t hit back! Mother always hits back.” Thedelayed reaction, because of his disturbance, had reached the good inhim. Oh, it’s there—no matter how deeply it is buried—and heexperienced remorse and complete self-condemnation.
What are a few bruises on my body in comparison with thetransformation of a human life? To make a long story short he wasnever violent again. He is a useful person in this world today.
On another occasion I was called upon to defend a frail eightyear old girl against a large man who was about to beat her.The girlwas terrified. It was my most difficult test. I was staying at a ranchand the family went into town.The little girl did not want to go withthem, and they asked, since I was there, would I take care of thechild? I was writing a letter by the window when I saw a car arrive.
A man got out of the car.The girl saw him and ran and he followed,chasing her into a barn. I went immediately into the barn. The girlwas cowering in terror in the corner. He was coming at her slowlyand deliberately.
You know the power of thought. You’re constantly creatingthrough thought. And you attract to you whatever you fear. So Iknew her danger because of her fear. (I fear nothing and expect good—so good comes!)I put my body immediately between the man and the girl. I juststood and looked at this poor, psychologically sick man with lovingcompassion. He came close. He stopped! He looked at me for quitea while. He then turned and walked away and the girl was safe.Therewas not a word spoken.
Now, what was the alternative? Suppose I had been so foolish asto forget the law of love by hitting back and relying upon the junglelaw of tooth and claw? Undoubtedly I would have been beaten—perhapseven to death and possibly the little girl as well! Never underestimatethe power of God’s love—it transforms! It reaches thespark of good in the other person and the person is disarmed.
When I started out on my pilgrimage, I was using walking fortwo purposes at that time. One was to contact people, and I still useit for that purpose today. But the other was as a prayer discipline.Tokeep me concentrated on my prayer for peace. And after a few yearsI discovered something. I discovered that I no longer needed theprayer discipline. I pray without ceasing now. My personal prayer is:
Make me an instrument through which only truth can speak.
During my pilgrimage through Arizona I was arrested by a plainclothespoliceman while mailing letters at the local post office inBenson. After a short ride in a patrol car I was booked as a vagrant.
When you walk on faith you are technically guilty of vagrancy.Yes,I’ve been jailed several times for not having any money, but theyalways release me once they understand.
There is a great deal of difference between a prison and a jail.Aprison is something big that maintains some kind of standards. A jailis a little affair that doesn’t maintain much of any standard. And thiswas a jail!
They put me into a huge inner room surrounded by cell blocksin which they locked the women, four to a cell for the night. As Iwalked in I said to myself, “Peace Pilgrim, you have dedicated yourlife to service—behold your wonderful new field of service!”
When I walked in one of the girls said, “Gee, you’re a funny one,you’re the only one that came in smiling. Most of them come incrying or cursing.”
I said to them, “Suppose you had a day off at home—wouldn’tyou do something worthwhile on that day?” They said, “Yes, whatwill we do?” So I got them to sing songs that lifted the spirit. I gavethem a simple exercise which makes you feel tingly all over. Then Italked to them about the steps toward inner peace. I told them theylived in a community and what could be done in an outer communitycould also be done in their community.They were interested andasked many questions. Oh, it was a beautiful day.
At the end of the day they changed matrons.The girls didn’t likethe woman who came in.They said she was a horrible person and saidnot to even speak to her. But I know there’s good in everybody and ofcourse I spoke to her. I learned this woman was supporting her childrenwith this job. She felt she had to work and didn’t always feel well andthat’s why she was a bit cross at times.There is a reason for everything.
I asked the matron to visualize only the good in the inmates.AndI asked the girls to visualize only the good in the beleaguered matron.
Later on I said to the matron, “I realize you have a full house hereand I can sleep comfortably on this wooden bench.” Instead she hadthem bring me a cot with clean bedclothes, and I had a warm showerwith a clean towel and all the comforts of home.
In the morning I bade farewell to my friends and was escortedby a local deputy to the courthouse several blocks away. I wasn’thandcuffed nor was he even holding onto me. But he had a great biggun at his side, and so I looked at him and said, “If I were to run away,would you shoot me?” “Oh, no,” he said grinning, “I never shoot anythingI can catch!”
In court that morning I pleaded not guilty and my case wasimmediately dismissed. In my personal effects which were takenovernight was a letter which had great weight in my release. It read:
“The bearer of this note has identified herself as a Peace Pilgrim walking coastto coast to direct the attention of our citizens to her desire for peace in theworld.We do not know her personally as she is just passing through our state,but since undoubtedly it will be a long, hard trip for her,we wish her safe passage.”
It was on official stationery and signed by the governor of thestate, Howard Pyle.
When I was being released a court officer remarked, “You don’tseem to be any the worse for your day in jail.” I said, “You canimprison my body, but not the spirit.” It’s only the body they can putbehind prison bars. I never felt in prison and neither will you ever feelin prison—unless you imprison yourself.
They took me to the spot where I had been picked up the daybefore. It was a beautiful experience.
Every experience is what you make it and it serves a purpose. Itmight inspire you, it might educate you, or it might come to give youa chance to be of service in some way.
Most of my speaking is now scheduled well in advance but I amstill offered speaking engagements in a most unexpected manner. InMinneapolis I was being interviewed by a reporter at a gathering ofcivic club members who were awaiting an address by the Minnesotagovernor. He was unable to make it so they invited me to speak in hisplace. Of course I accepted!
And speaking of governors, as I stepped inside the big front doorof a State House one day, a nice friendly gentleman greeted me andshook my hand and asked if he could help me. I told him I was lookingfor the Governor’s office and he promptly took me there. “Isthere anything else I can do to help you?” he asked. “I thought I mighthave the privilege of shaking hands with the Governor,” I said. “Youhave shaken hands with the Governor,” said the nice friendly gentleman—the Governor himself.
It was the first year of my pilgrimage and I was somewhere alongthe highway between El Paso and Dallas when I was picked up forvagrancy. I have never heard of the FBI investigating people forvagrancy but I was. A man in a black car stopped and showed me hisbadge. He didn’t even demand that I come with him, he just said,“Will you come with me?”
I said, “Oh yes. I’ll be interested in talking with you.”
I got into his car, but first I scratched a large ‘X’ on the highwaywhere I had been picked up. During the time I was counting miles,if I left the highway I would make a large ‘X’ and then return to thespot to begin my walk anew.
He took me to this prison and said, “Book her for vagrancy,” andI went through the routine.They first take you in for fingerprinting.
I was fascinated because I never had fingerprints taken before—orsince! He then took a chemical and, just like that, he got all the blackink off my fingers.When I was wondering how long it would take towash it off, it was off.
I spoke to him just as I would speak to anybody I was with, andsomething interesting happened. Apparently he was used to beingtreated in a very uncooperative manner. When I treated him like ahuman being he gave me a lecture on fingerprinting and he showedme the charts. It was very interesting. I had really not learned thatmuch about fingerprinting before. People were waiting in line, but Ididn’t know that until I came out of the room and saw the long line.
Then they took me in to be photographed and hung a numberaround my neck with a chain. When they were photographing mefrom the front and side, I remembered all those pictures of wantedpeople you see in the post office. I remembered how mad they alllooked, and I said to myself, “Let me be different.” And I smiled assweetly as I could. There’s one smiling face somewhere in rogue’sgallery!
Then they took me in to be questioned. They actually sat meunder a strong light—it’s supposed to have a psychological effect onyou. But I had already been on television at that time, and I said tomyself, “Do they really think this is a strong light? They should see thelights in a television studio!” At that time TV lights were not onlybright but hot.
They first asked me if I would answer any question, and I said,“Certainly, I will answer your questions. Not because you are lawenforcement officers, but because you are fellow human beings, andI answer the questions of all my fellow human beings.Whatever youare in your official capacity, you are first and foremost a humanbeing. And if we could get together as human being to human beingwe can get done much faster.”
And it ended up that way!
They began with the confusing technique. One would fire aquestion at me. Before I could answer the other would fire a questionat me. I had to keep saying, “If you will pardon me for a momentwhile I answer the other gentleman’s question.” Then they got downto meaningful questions such as college students ask me. How Iwarmed up to the subject!
Then they referred to physical violence as being the intent tohurt.They said,“Would you under any circumstances use or sanctionthe use of physical violence?” I said, “No, this is contrary to God’slaws. I would rather have God on my side than any power on earth.”
I told them the story of the disturbed teenage boy who hit me duringour walk together.
Then they said, “Suppose it was necessary for you to defend aloved one?” I said, “Oh, no, I do not believe I could defend a lovedone by disobeying Divine Law.” I told them about the eight year oldgirl who had been left in my care and the experience we had with thepsychologically sick man who tried to harm her.
Then they got into things very philosophical and said, “If you hadto choose between killing and being killed, which would youchoose?” I answered, “I don’t think I would need to make such achoice—not as long as my life remains in harmony with God’s will.
Unless, of course, it was my calling to be a martyr. Now, that’s a veryhigh calling, it’s a very rare calling. I don’t believe it’s my calling—but the world learns to grow through its martyrs. If I had to make achoice, I would choose to be killed rather than kill.”
They said, “Could you give a logical explanation for such an attitude?”
Here I was, attempting to explain the attitude of the self-centerednature and the attitude of the God-centered nature so theycould understand it! I told them that in my frame of reference I wasnot the body. I was just wearing the body. I am that which activates thebody—that’s the reality. If I am killed, it destroys merely the clay garment,the body. But if I kill, it injures the reality, the soul!
And they put me down as having a religious basis for my pilgrimage.
But suppose I had said, “After all, you’ve heard of self-defense—why, even the law recognizes self-defense.” This might have beenconsidered legal—but not religious.
There was an occasion when I felt that I was indeed battling withthe elements. It was my experience of walking through a dust stormwhich sometimes blew with such force I could scarcely stand againstit, while sometimes the dust was so thick I could not see ahead andcould only guide myself by the edge of the road. A policemanstopped alongside me, threw open his car door and yelled, “Get inhere, woman, before you get killed.” I told him I was walking a pilgrimageand did not accept rides (at that time). I also told him thatGod was my shield and there was nothing to fear.At that moment thewinds died down, the dust settled and the sun broke from the clouds.
I continued to walk. But the wonderful thing was that I felt spirituallylifted above the hardship.
Concealed in every new situation we face is a spiritual lesson tobe learned and a spiritual blessing for us if we learn that lesson. It isgood to be tested.We grow and learn through passing tests. I lookupon all my tests as good experiences. Before I was tested, I believedI would act in a loving or non-fearing way. After I was tested, I knew!
Every test turned out to be an uplifting experience. And it is notimportant that the outcome be according to our wishes.
I remember one experience when it said in the local newspaperI was going to speak at a church service. It showed my picture—front and back, wearing my lettered tunic. A man who belonged tothat church was simply horrified to discover that this creature wearinga lettered tunic was about to speak at his church. He called hispreacher about it, and he called his friends about it. Somebody toldme who he was. I felt so sorry that I had somehow offended a manthat I didn’t even know. So, I called him!
“This is Peace Pilgrim calling,” I said. I could hear him gasp.Afterwardhe told me that he thought I had called to bawl him out. I said,“I have called to apologize to you because evidently I must have donesomething to offend you, since without even knowing me you havebeen apprehensive about my speaking at your church.Therefore I feelI must somehow owe you an apology and I have called to apologize!”
Do you know that man was in tears before the conversation wasover? And now we’re friends—he corresponded with me afterward.
Yes, the law of love works!
Another man once said to me, “I’m surprised at the kind ofperson you are. After reading your very serious message on the wayof peace I expected you to be a very solemn person, but instead I findyou bubbling over with joy.” I said to him, “Who could know God andnot be joyous?”
If you have a long face and a chip on your shoulder, if you are notradiant with joy and friendliness, if you are not filled to overflowingwith love and goodwill for all beings and all creatures and all creation,one thing is certain: you do not know God!
Also, life is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles back at you. Ijust put a big smile on my face and everyone smiles back.
If you love people enough, they will respond lovingly. If I offendpeople, I blame myself, for I know that if my conduct had been correct,they would not have been offended even though they did notagree with me. Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power towound.
Let me tell you a time when my love had to be non-verbal. I wastrying to help a lady who had been so seriously ill that she could nolonger drive her car. She wanted to get to her older sister’s house fora few weeks of bed rest so I offered to drive her there. I still had mydriver’s license at the time. On the way she said, “Peace, I wish youcould stay with me for awhile—my older sister is so domineering. Ijust dread being alone with her.” I said, “All right, I have a few extradays. I’ll stay with you for a little while.”
When we were turning into her sister’s yard she said, “Peace, Ireally don’t know how my older sister is going to accept you.”
She was quite right about her older sister. When her sister tookone look at me with my lettered tunic she ordered me out of thehouse. But it was late at night and she was so afraid of the dark thatshe said, “Not tonight, you may sleep on the sofa tonight, but the firstthing in the morning you must leave!”
Then she hurried her younger sister off to bed way upstairssomewhere.Well, this was worse than I thought it might be. I certainlydidn’t want to leave my friend in this situation but what couldI do? So I looked around to see if there was anything that mightpermit me to communicate with the older sister. I looked into thekitchen and there was a mountain of dirty dishes and no dishwasher,so I washed all the dishes.Then I cleaned up the kitchen and lay downand slept for a few hours.
In the morning the older sister was in tears and she asked me tostay. She said, “Of course, you understand I was so tired last night Ididn’t know what I was saying.” And we had a wonderful timetogether before I left them.You see, it just gave me the chance to putmy little message into practice. Practice is good; practice makes perfect,they say.
During my travels a saloon-keeper called me into his tavern togive me some food, and while I was eating he asked, “How do youfeel in a place like this?”
“I know that all human beings are God’s children,” I replied.
“Even when they are not acting that way, I have faith that they could,and I love them for what they could be.”
As I rose to leave I noticed a man with a drink in his hand wasalso on his feet. When he caught my eye he smiled a little, and Ismiled at him. “You smiled at me,” he said in surprise. “I should thinkyou wouldn’t even speak to me but you smiled at me.” I smiled again.
“I’m not here to judge my fellow human beings,” I told him. “I am here to love and serve.” Suddenly he was kneeling at my feet andsaying, “Everyone else judged me, so I defended myself.You didn’tjudge me, so now I judge myself. I’m a no-good worthless sinner!
I’ve been squandering my money on liquor. I’ve been mistreating myfamily. I’ve been going from bad to worse!” I put my hand on hisshoulder. “You are God’s child,” I said, “and you could act that way.”
He looked with disgust at the drink in his hand, and then hurledit against the bar, shattering the glass. His eyes met mine. “I swear toyou I’ll never touch that stuff again,” he exclaimed. “Never!” Andthere was a new light in his eyes as he walked through the door withsteady steps.
I even know the happy ending to that story. About a year and ahalf later I heard from a woman in that town. She said as far as anyoneknew the man kept his promise. He never touched liquor again. Henow has a good job. He is getting along well with his family and hasjoined a church.
When you approach others in judgment they will be on thedefensive. When you are able to approach them in a kindly, lovingmanner without judgment they will tend to judge themselves and betransformed.
On my pilgrimage a lot of cars stopped and people invited meto ride. Some thought walking meant hitchhiking. I told them Idid not cheat God—you don’t cheat about counting miles on apilgrimage.
I remember one day as I walked along the highway a very nicecar stopped and the man inside said to me, “How wonderful that youare following your calling!” I replied, “I certainly think that everyoneshould be doing what he or she feels is the right thing to do.”
He then began telling me what he felt motivated toward, and itwas a good thing that needed doing. I got quite enthusiastic about itand took it for granted that he was doing it. I said, “That’s wonderful!
How are you getting along with it?” And he answered, “Oh, I’mnot doing it.That kind of work doesn’t pay anything.”
I shall never forget how desperately unhappy that man was. Inthis materialistic age we have such a false criteria by which to measuresuccess.We measure it in terms of dollars, in terms of materialthings. But happiness and inner peace do not lie in that direction. Ifyou know but do not do, you are a very unhappy person indeed.
I had another roadside experience when a fine car stopped witha well-dressed couple inside who began to talk to me. I started toexplain to them what I was doing. Suddenly, to my amazement, theman burst into tears. He said, “I have done nothing for peace and youhave to do so much!”
And then there was the time when another man stopped his carto talk with me. He looked at me, not unkindly, but with extremesurprise and curiosity, as though he had just glimpsed a live dinosaur.
“In this day and age,” he exclaimed, “with all the wonderful opportunitiesthe world has to offer, what under the sun made you get outand walk a pilgrimage for peace?”
“In this day and age,” I answered, “when humanity totters on thebrink of a nuclear war of annihilation, it is not surprising that one lifeis dedicated to the cause of peace—but rather it is surprising thatmany lives are not similarly dedicated.”
When I ended my first cross-country walk I felt so thankful thatI had not failed to do what I had been called to do. I either said orthought to myself, “Isn’t it wonderful that God can do somethingthrough me!”
Afterward I slept at the Grand Central Station railroad terminalin New York City.
When I came into the state between sleep and wakefulness, I hadan impression that an indescribably beautiful voice was speakingwords of encouragement: “You are my beloved daughter in whom I am wellpleased.” When I came into full wakefulness it seemed as though acelestial orchestra had just finished playing in the station, with itsechoes still lingering on. I walked out into the cold morning, but Ifelt warm. I walked along the cement sidewalk, but I felt I was walkingon clouds. The feeling of living in harmony with divine purposehas never left me.
CHAPTER 4: Reflections on the Pilgrimage
WHEN I FIRST STARTED OUT my tunic read PEACE PILGRIM on thefront and Walking Coast to Coast for Peace on the back. Through theyears the message on the back changed from Walking 10,000 Miles forWorld Disarmament to Walking 25,000 Miles for Peace and ending withthe present message of 25,000 Miles On Foot for Peace.This walking hastaken me several times into the forty-eight states and into Mexicoand into all ten Canadian provinces.
I finished counting miles of walking in Washington, D.C. in thefall of 1964. I said to myself, “25,000 miles is enough to count.” Itkept me tied to the main highways where mileages are recorded onroad maps. They’re not good places to meet people. They’re justgood places to count miles. Now I’m free to walk where people are.
Also, mileages are not given for my favorite places to walk: beaches,forest paths and mountain trails.
Some things don’t seem so difficult, like going without food. Iseldom miss more than three to four meals in a row and I never eventhink about food until it is offered. The most I have gone withoutfood is three days, and then mother nature provided my food—apples that had fallen from a tree. I once fasted as a prayer disciplinefor 45 days, so I know how long one can go without food! Myproblem is not how to get enough to eat, it’s how to graciously avoidgetting too much. Everyone wants to overfeed me!
Going without sleep would be harder, although I can miss onenight’s sleep and I don’t mind. Every once in awhile I miss a night’ssleep, but not for some time now. The last time was September of1977 when I was in a truck stop. I had intended to sleep a little butit was such a busy truck stop that I spent all night talking to truckdrivers.The first thing after I went in, a truck driver who’d seen meon television wanted to buy me some food. I sat in a corner booth.
Then truck drivers started to arrive, and it was just one wave oftruck drivers after another that were standing there and asking mequestions, and so forth. I actually talked to them all night and I neverdid get to do any sleeping. After awhile somebody offered me breakfastand I ate that and left.
Another time, a truck driver pulled his truck to the side of theroad and said, “I heard you say over television something about thatendless energy and I just wanted to tell you I had it one time. I wasmarooned in a town by a flood. I got so bored that I finally offered tohelp and I got interested in getting people out. I worked withouteating, I worked without sleeping, and I wasn’t tired...But I don’thave it anymore.” I said, “Well, what are you working for now?”
“Money,” he said. I said, “That should be quite incidental.You have theendless energy only when you are working for the good of the whole—you have to stop working for your little selfish interests.”
That’s the secret of it. In this world you are given as you give!
I usually average twenty-five miles a day walking, dependingupon how many people stop to talk to me along the way. I have goneup to fifty miles in one day to keep an appointment or because therewas no shelter available.
On very cold nights I walk through the night to keep warmWhen the days are very warm I do a lot of walking at night to avoidthe heat. I have walked when the nights were filled with the scent ofhoneysuckle, the sight of fireflies and the sound of whippoorwills.
Once a six foot fellow, confident he could out walk me, walkedwith me for 33 miles.When he gave up, his feet were blistered andhis muscles ached. He was walking on his own strength; I wasn’t! Iwas walking on that endless energy that comes from inner peace.
Another time a woman asked me if she could accompany me onthe pilgrimage. She told me she wanted to get away from “that husband”
of hers. Maybe she did have a calling, but her motive was notthe highest. Another lady who wished to accompany me for a daycould barely walk by afternoon. I sent her home by bus!
I have never experienced any danger on my walks. One time acouple of drunks did follow me in a car, but when I moved off theroad they left. Only once has anyone ever thrown something at me:
a man in a speeding truck threw a fistful of crumpled dollar bills. Isimply gave them to the next church where I spoke.
A college student once asked me if I had ever been mugged.
“Mugged?” I answered. “You would have to be a crazy person to mugme—I haven’t a penny to my name!”
There was a time when I was walking out of town at sunset and awell-to-do couple in a big house called me over.They had read aboutmy pilgrimage and felt it was their Christian duty to warn me thatahead on the way lay a very wicked place called ‘South of the Border.’
They just wanted to warn me not to go near that place.They did notoffer food or shelter, however, so I walked on for several hours.
It was a very dark night with a heavy cloud cover and all of asudden it started to rain. Big drops were coming down, and I wascarrying a lot of unanswered mail. I looked for a place where theremight be a shelter and nearby I saw a combination gas station, restaurantand motel. I ducked under the roof over the gas pumps andstarted to put the unanswered mail into the front of my tunic so itwouldn’t get wet. The man from the gas station came running outand said, “Don’t stand out there in the rain, come into the restaurant.”
The man in the restaurant said, “Oh,we read all about you, andwe would like to offer you a dinner or anything you want.” By thattime I realized where I was. I was in ‘South of the Border.’
The man from the motel was sitting across the table from me andhe gave me a room for the night.They also gave me breakfast the nextmorning.
There may have been gambling in the back room; something wasgoing on there. But they treated me in a much more Christian fash-ion than those who warned me against them. It just demonstrates mypoint that there is good in everybody.
I have received hospitality in the most unusual places.These haveincluded a conference table in the Florence,Arizona, city hall and theseat of a fire engine in Tombstone,Arizona. Once I was inadvertentlylocked for thirteen hours in an icy gas station restroom. My accommodationswere quiet and private, although somewhat chilly!
I sleep equally well in a soft bed or on the grass beside the road.
If I am given food and shelter, fine. If not, I’m just as happy. Manytimes I am given shelter by total strangers. When hospitality is notavailable there are always bus depots, railroad stations and all nighttruck stops.
I remember being offered a queen size bed at a fashionable motelone evening and the next evening space on the concrete floor of atwenty-four hour gasoline station. I slept equally well on both. Severaltimes a friendly sheriff would unlock the door of an unoccupiedjail cell.
When no shelter is available to me, I sleep in the fields or by theside of the road with God to guard me.
Bridges always offered protection from the elements, as well asdilapidated barns and empty basements of abandoned homes. Culvertsand large pipes often served as lodging. But one of my favoriteplaces to sleep is a large haystack piled in an accessible field on a clearnight.The stars are my blanket.
Cemeteries are also wonderful places to sleep for the night.Theyare quiet, the grass is always neatly trimmed, and nobody ever bothersyou there. No, there is no intrusion upon the departed spirits. Iwish them peace; they understand. But a picnic table at a nearby roadstop, a gathering of pine needles in a nearby brush, or the cushion ofa blossoming wheat field would serve as well.
One morning, when I was sleeping in a Kansas wheat field, I wasawakened to a very loud noise. I looked up only to see this hugereaper bearing down on me. I immediately rolled over several timesto get out of the way of its swirling blades.
I feel a complete protection on my pilgrimage. God is my shield.
There are no accidents in the Divine Plan nor does God leave usunattended. No one walks so safely as those who walk humbly andharmlessly with great love and great faith.
I remember a time of the year when it got very cold at night. Itwent below freezing, but then it warmed up a little in the daytime,so the days were fairly pleasant. It was in the fall, and there were dryleaves on the ground. I was in the middle of the woods and therewasn’t a town for miles around. It was sunset and it was a Sunday.
Someone had read a thick Sunday newspaper and tossed it beside theroad—like they shouldn’t, but they do. I picked it up and walked offthe road and found a thick evergreen tree. Underneath it was a littledepression where some leaves had blown. I pushed a lot of leaves intothat depression. Then I put some paper down and placed the rest ofthe paper over me. When I woke in the morning there was a thickwhite frost over everything, but the evergreen tree had kept it off ofme, and I was snug and warm in my nest of leaves and paper.That’sjust a tip in case you get caught out some night.
Most people interested in vacations are those who are doingthings they are not called to do, which they want to get away fromfor awhile. I couldn’t imagine feeling the need of a vacation from mypilgrimage. How good it is to travel south in the fall of the year,experiencing the tranquil beauty of the harvest time—but stayingahead of the frost; experiencing the brilliant beauty of the autumnleaves—but traveling on before they are swept from the trees. Howgood it is to travel north with the spring, and to enjoy the springflowers for several months instead of several weeks. I have had boththese wonderful experiences in the middle of the country.
During a 1,000 mile walk through New England (which began inGreenwich, Connecticut and ended in Burlington, Vermont) I zigzaggeda lot to walk through not only the large towns but also thesmaller towns to which I had been invited. I started among the appleblossoms—I walked among them when they were pink buds, andwhen their falling petals were as white as falling snow. I ended amongthe ripened apples, which supplied me with some tasty meals. Inbetween I feasted on luscious wild strawberries and blackberries andblueberries.
Throughout the country I saw much superhighway construction,and I noticed that these super-roads tended to run in thevalleys, tunneling through the mountains and sometimes under therivers. I’m glad that on my pilgrimage I usually followed the oldroads that climbed the mountains.What wonderful vistas there wereto reward those who attained the summit: sometimes views of townsor roads where I had walked or would walk, sometimes views of valleyscovered with fields and orchards. I know that this is an age ofefficiency and that superhighways are much more efficient, but Ihope there will always be some scenic roads, too. Some roads thatclimb the mountains.
People sometimes ask me how I spend holidays—especiallyChristmas. I have spent many of them walking. Many people go for adrive on a holiday, so it is a good time to contact people. I rememberone Christmas Eve when I slept out under the stars. One planetwas so bright that just a little imagination could transform it into thestar of Bethlehem. The next day, at a temperature of 80 degrees, Iwalked into New Orleans to find poinsettias blooming abundantlyfor Christmas—and to find some fine, new friends.
I spent one Christmas in Fort Worth, Texas, where the towersand the tall buildings were outlined with colored lights, presentingan unforgettable picture as I walked into the city.That day I was giventhe welcome present of enough time to catch up with my mail.
People sometimes ask me if I do not feel lonely on holidays. Howcan I feel lonely when I live in the constant awareness of God’s presence?
I love and I enjoy being with people, but when I am alone Ienjoy being alone with God.
Most of the time in the early years I was offered food and hospitalityby people I did not even know. I accept everything as an offeringsent from the hand of God. I am equally thankful for the stalebread I received at a migrant worker’s home as the sumptuous mealpresented to me by a lady friend in the main dining room at theWaldorf Astoria Hotel.
You know, after you have fully surrendered your life to God’swill—if it is your calling to go out on faith—you will discover thateven the food and shelter you need come to you very easily. Everything,even material things are given. And some amazing things aregiven that still surprise even me.
I first got to Alaska and Hawaii through a wonderful gift from awonderful friend. Then some of my friends asked me to considerleading tours there, so I led one to Alaska the summer of 1979 andone to Hawaii the summer of 1980. I arranged the tours to be aneducational and inspirational experience for all who participated.Welived simply and traveled light.
I was not idle while in our two newest states. Besides showingmy friends around, I did a lot of speaking to groups and over the air.
Some of those friends wanted to get an idea of what my pilgrimagelife is like, and I think they did. It was a joy to share these inspiringplaces with them.
I’ll tell you another thing that happened: I was figuring out myschedule for North and South Dakota and I knew that in NorthDakota I would have to interrupt my schedule to lead the tour inHawaii. I knew it would be at Bismarck and I knew also that it wouldtake me about a week to hitchhike back from Los Angeles, and Ithought, “Oh, a week out of the North Dakota schedule and a weekout of the South Dakota schedule. I could really use those two weeksin North and South Dakota.” About the time I was thinking thesethoughts, someone wrote and offered me air fare to and from Bismarck.
It seemed almost like a miracle that it came. And of coursethis was something that I needed. I do not take anything I do notneed, but I did need the time in North and South Dakota.This was awonderful gift, which I accepted, and for which I shall be eternallygrateful.
So even the material things are provided.
I explained to a reporter one time that I just talk to people andafter a time they ask me if I want to eat. He pointed out that he hadtalked to people for months, even years, and they hadn’t offered himso much as a sandwich. I told him, “But you’re not a peace pilgrim!”
Once a sixteen year old Mexican boy, who had heard me on theradio, raced out as I passed his home and excitedly extended aninvitation to stay for the evening. His family lived in a poor itinerantsharecropper’s cabin, but I can remember being treated as theirhonored guest. After a dinner of tortillas and beans, the family rolledup their only rug and placed it as a blanket upon their only bed. Inthe morning, before departing, they fed me another loving meal oftortillas and beans.
While passing through Memphis, I scampered upon a woodenporch of a one-room house to escape a violent thunderstorm. Ablack family graciously offered hospitality for the evening. Theirwarmth was matched by the wood-burning stove that heated theirhumble home. They shared their meager food of cornbread andwater for dinner and breakfast.We all slept on a bare, well-scrubbedfloor. I will never forget the genuineness of their hospitality.
One bitter cold morning a college student in Oklahoma gave methe gloves from his hands and threw his scarf around my neck.Thatnight when the temperature had dropped below zero, an Indiancouple offered me shelter.
I was once warned not to go to Georgia—and especially not intoAlbany, Georgia, where fourteen peace walkers were in jail. But Icannot say I found anyone to be really unfriendly. In fact, hospitalitywas better than average.
The people of minority groups I met took it for granted that Iwouldn’t discriminate. When they read Peace Pilgrim on my tunic,they seemed to trust me. They didn’t hesitate to stop and talk. Ispoke in a number of minority churches and several of the ministersread my message to their congregations.
Of course, I love everyone I meet. How could I fail to? Withineveryone is the spark of God. I am not concerned with racial orethnic background or the color of one’s skin; all people look to melike shining lights! I see in all creatures the reflection of God. Allpeople are my kinfolk—people to me are beautiful!
We people of the world need to find ways to get to know oneanother—for then we will recognize that our likenesses are so muchgreater than our differences, however great our differences mayseem. Every cell, every human being, is of equal importance and haswork to do in this world.
CHAPTER 5: Living the Simple Life
THE SIMPLIFICATION OF LIFE is one of the steps to inner peace.Apersistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-beingthat places harmony in one’s life. For me this began with a discoveryof the meaninglessness of possessions beyond my actual and immediateneeds. As soon as I had brought myself down to need level, Ibegan to feel a wonderful harmony in my life between inner andouter well-being, between spiritual and material well-being.
Some people seem to think that my life dedicated to simplicityand service is austere and joyless, but they do not know the freedomof simplicity. I am thankful to God every moment of my life for thegreat riches that have been showered upon me. My life is full andgood but never overcrowded. If life is overcrowded then you aredoing more than is required for you to do.
My life had been bogged down; I felt greedy before I took myvow of simplicity: I shall not accept more than I need while others in theworld have less than they need.
You also may have come out of a life where you had too manythings.When you have simplified your life, I’m sure you will feel asfree as I feel. If your motive is one of giving then you will be givenwhatever you need.
In my life, what I want and what I need are exactly the same.
Anything in excess of needs is burdensome to me.You couldn’t giveme anything I don’t need. I am penniless, but have difficulty remainingso. Several of my well meaning, well-to-do friends have offeredme large sums of money, which I of course refused.
I talked to one person who thought I was being deprived of someof the “pleasures” of life. But none of the things I do not use or do notdo were taken away from me. I just did not include them when I waschoosing a harmonious life. I just had no interest whatsoever inthem.
I am not a slave to comfort and convenience. I wouldn’t be a pilgrimif I were.We can allow false beliefs to govern our lives and beenslaved by them. Most people do not wish to be free. They wouldprefer to moan and chafe about how impossible it is to give up theirvarious enslavements to possessions, food, drink, smoking, and soforth. It is not that they can’t give them up—they don’t really wantto give them up.
Our physical needs depend somewhat on the climate in whichwe live, the state of our health, etc. In general we need a shelter toprotect us from the elements; a fire, a blanket, some clothing forwarmth; pure air and water and sufficient food for sustenance.Thereare, of course, needs beyond the physical. These often involve littleor no expenditure of money, but this is not always so. For instance,there are some people whose lives are not complete unless they canlisten to good music or play some musical instrument.While suggestionsmay be made as to simple living, simplifying our lives is an individualproblem for every one of us.
I learned about forty years ago that money and things wouldn’tmake people happy. And this has been confirmed many times. I havemet many millionaires. They had one thing in common. None ofthem were happy. Look at Howard Hughes with his 2.5 billion dollars.
They say he was the most miserable, fear-ridden creature onecould imagine! And I knew a woman who inherited 4.5 million dollars.
It ruined her life. Because she was one who had always been agiving person, she wanted to use the money meaningfully. But shediscovered it was such a burden to her. She would be better off if shedid not have it.
I realize that if you don’t have enough you won’t be happy.
Neither are you happy if you have too much. It is those who haveenough but not too much who are the happiest.
I remember a dear lady, who was up in years. She was workingso hard and always complaining. I finally said to her, “Why in theworld do you need to work so hard when you have only yourself tosupport?”And she said, “Oh, I have to pay rent on a five room house.”
“A five room house!” I replied. “But you’re alone in the world.
Couldn’t you live happily in one room?” “Oh yes,” she said sadly, “butI have furniture for a five room house.” She was actually working herfingers to the bone to provide a proper home for that furniture! Andthat happens all the time. All I can say is, don’t let it happen to you.
Because of our preoccupation with materialism we often missthe best things in life, which are free.
Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.
If you have them, you have to take care of them.
I’ll tell you about one more woman. She was liberated, althoughnot in the best possible way. I saw her only occasionally, but I happenedto see her about a month after her huge house, in which sheand her husband had been living alone since the children weregrown, had burned down while they’d been out. They lost everythingexcept the clothes they were wearing. Remembering howattached she had been to that huge house, in spite of the fact that itwas such a burden for her to take care of, I started to say a fewwords of sympathy. But she said, “Don’t sympathize with me! Now,you could have the morning after, but not now. Just think, I willnever have to clean out that attic. I will never have to clean out thoseclothes closets. I will never have to clean that basement! Why, I’venever felt so free. I just feel I’m starting life all over again!”
She and her husband were living in a sensible size apartment and,indeed, I’m sure they did experience a wonderful sense of freedom.
But wouldn’t it have been better if they had learned to give and hadextended their surplus towards those who needed it? Then they wouldhave been blessed by the giving, and others would have been blessedby the getting. In any case, it was a situation which liberated them.
If you are free, I recommend a hiking trip on a wilderness footpath.
How inspiring it is to walk all day in the sunshine and sleep allnight under the stars. What a wonderful experience in simple, naturalliving. Since you carry your food, sleeping equipment, etc., onyour back, you learn quickly that unnecessary possessions areunnecessary burdens. You soon realize what the essentials of lifeare—such as warmth when you are cold, a dry spot on a rainy day,the simplest food when you are hungry, pure cool water when youare thirsty.You soon put material things in their proper place, realizingthat they are there for use, but relinquishing them when they arenot useful. You soon experience and learn to appreciate the greatfreedom of simplicity.
From May to October of 1952, before the pilgrimage, I walkedthe 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine,with 500 additional miles for side-trips to points of special beauty.
I lived out-of-doors completely, supplied with only one pair ofslacks and shorts, one blouse and sweater, a lightweight blanket, andtwo double plastic sheets, into which I sometimes stuffed leaves. Iwas not always completely dry and warm, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
My menu, morning and evening, was two cups of uncookedoatmeal soaked in water and flavored with brown sugar; at noon twocups of double strength dried milk, plus any berries, nuts or greensfound in the woods.
I had been thoroughly prepared for my pilgrimage by this tougheningprocess.A walk along the highway seemed easy by comparison.
How good it is to eat fruit tasty and ripe from the tree and vegetablesfresh and crisp from the field. And how good it would be for thefarming of the future to concentrate on the non-use of poisonous substances,such as sprays, so food would be fit to go from farm to table.
One morning for breakfast I had blueberries covered with dew,picking them from the bushes as I journeyed through the New Englandmountains. I thought of my fellow human beings eating variouskinds of processed and flavored foods, and I realized that if I couldchoose my breakfast from all the foods in the world I could not makea better choice than blueberries covered with dew.
In the spring and summer when the days are long, how good itis to get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun. In the fall andwinter when the days are shorter you can enjoy some of the night. Iam inclined to agree that there is a substance in the air, left there bythe sun, which diminishes after the sun goes down and can beabsorbed only while you sleep. Sleeping from nine to five is aboutright for me.
How good it is to work in the invigorating fresh air under thelife-giving sun amid the inspiring beauty of nature. There are manywho recognize this, like the young man I met whose life had beeninterrupted by the peacetime draft. While he was away his father,who was in poor health, was not able to keep up the farm and so itwas sold. The young man then undertook to do years of distastefulwork in order to be able to buy another farm. How good it is to earnyour livelihood helping plants to grow to provide people with food.
In other words, how good it is to earn your livelihood by contributingconstructively to the society in which you live—everyoneshould, of course, and in a healthy society everyone would.
My clothes are most comfortable as well as most practical. Iwear navy blue slacks and a long sleeved shirt topped with my letteredtunic. Along the edge of my tunic, both front and rear, are partitionedcompartments which are hemmed up to serve as pockets.
These hold all my possessions which consist of a comb, a foldingtoothbrush, a ballpoint pen, a map, some copies of my message andmy mail.
So you can see why I answer my mail faster than most—it keepsmy pockets from bulging. My slogan is: Every ounce counts! Beneathmy outer garments I wear a pair of running shorts and a short sleevedshirt—so I’m always prepared for an invigorating swim if I pass ariver or lake.
As I put on my simple clothing one day after a swim in a clearmountain lake I thought of those who have closets full of clothes totake care of, and who carry heavy luggage with them when theytravel. I wondered how people would want to so burden themselves,and I felt wonderfully free. This is me and all my possessions. Thinkof how free I am! If I want to travel, I just stand up and walk away.
There is nothing to tie me down.
One outfit of clothing is enough.That’s all I’ve owned since mypilgrimage started in 1953. And I take good care of my things. I canalways find a wash basin in a public restroom or a nearby stream towash my clothes, and drying them is even easier: I just put them onand let the energy from the sun evaporate any dampness.
I wash my skin only with water; soap removes the natural oils. Sodo the cosmetics and creams most women use.
The only footwear I need is an inexpensive pair of blue sneakers.
They have soft fabric tops and soft rubber-like soles. I get them onesize too large so I can wiggle my toes. I feel as free as though I werebarefoot! And I can usually get 1,500 miles to a pair. I wear a pair ofnavy blue socks.There’s a reason why I chose navy blue for my wearingapparel—it’s a very practical color, doesn’t show dirt, and thecolor blue does represent peace and spirituality.
I don’t discard any article of wear until it becomes worn to theextent of being unusable. Once when I was about to leave town ahostess said, “Peace, I noticed your shoes were in need of repair, andI would have offered to repair them, but I know so much aboutsewing that I knew they couldn’t be repaired.” I said to her, “It’s agood thing I know so little about sewing that I didn’t know theycouldn’t be repaired—so I just finished repairing them.”
The first few years I used a blue scarf and a blue sweater duringchilly weather, but I eventually discarded them as not really essential.
I am now so adjustable to changes in temperature that I wear thesame clothes summer and winter, indoors and out.
Like the birds, I migrate north in the summer and south in thewinter. If you wish to talk to people out-of-doors, you must bewhere the weather is pleasant or people will not be out.
When the temperature gets high and the sun gets hot there isnothing so welcome as shade. There is a special coolness about theshade of a tree, but unless it is a big tree some shifting is required tostay in the shade. Clouds provide shade as they drift across the sun.
A rock provides what I call deep shade; so does a bank early in themorning or late in the afternoon. Sometimes even the shade of abush is appreciated, or that of a haystack. Man-made things provideshade too. Buildings, of course, and even signs which disfigure thelandscape do provide shade. So do bridges, providing shelter fromthe rain as well. Of course, one can wear a hat or carry an umbrella.
I do neither. Once when a reporter asked if by chance I had a foldingumbrella in my pockets I replied, “I won’t melt. My skin is waterproof.
I don’t worry about little discomforts.” But I’ve sometimesused a piece of cardboard for a sun shade.
Water is something you think of in hot weather, but I have discoveredthat if I eat nothing but fruit until my day’s walk is over I donot get thirsty. Our physical needs are so simple.
After a wonderful sojourn in the wilderness, I remember walkingalong the streets of a city which had been my home for awhile. Itwas 1 p.m. Hundreds of neatly dressed human beings with pale orpainted faces hurried in rather orderly lines to and from their placesof employment. I, in my faded shirt and well-worn slacks, walkedamong them.The rubber soles of my soft canvas shoes moved noiselesslyalong beside the clatter of trim, tight shoes with stilt-like heels.
In the poorer section I was tolerated. In the wealthier section someglances seemed a bit startled and some were disdainful.
On both sides of us as we walked were displayed the things we canbuy if we are willing to stay in the orderly lines day after day, year afteryear. Some of the things are more or less useful, many are utter trash.
Some have a claim to beauty, many are garishly ugly. Thousands ofthings are displayed—and yet,my friends, the most valuable are missing.
Freedom is not displayed, nor health, nor happiness, nor peace ofmind.To obtain these things,my friends, you too may need to escapefrom the orderly lines and risk being looked upon disdainfully.
To the world I may seem very poor, walking penniless and wearingor carrying in my pockets my only material possessions, but I amreally very rich in blessings which no amount of money could buy—health and happiness and inner peace.
The simplified life is a sanctified life,Much more calm, much less strife.Oh, what wondroustruths are unveiled—Projects succeed which had previously failed.
Oh, how beautiful life can be,Beautiful simplicity.
CHAPTER 6: Solving Life’s Problems
THE PURPOSE OF PROBLEMS is to push you toward obedience toGod’s laws, which are exact and cannot be changed.We have the freewill to obey them or disobey them. Obedience will bring harmony,disobedience will bring you more problems.
Likewise, when societies get out of harmony, problems developwithin the society. Collective problems.Their purpose is to push thewhole society toward harmony. Individuals can discover that theycan not only grow and learn through individual problem solving,they can learn and grow through collective problem solving. I oftensay I’ve run out of personal problems, then every once in a while alittle one presents itself somewhere. But I hardly recognize it as aproblem because it seems so insignificant. Actually, I want to do allmy learning and growing now by helping to solve collective problems.
There was a time when I thought it was a nuisance to be confrontedwith a problem. I tried to get rid of it. I tried to get somebodyelse to solve it for me. But that time was long ago. It was a great dayin my life when I discovered the wonderful purpose of problems.Yes,they have a wonderful purpose.
Some people wish for a life of no problems, but I would neverwish such a life for any of you.What I wish for you is the great innerstrength to solve your problems meaningfully and grow. Problemsare learning and growing experiences. A life without problemswould be a barren existence, without the opportunity for spiritualgrowth.
I once met a woman who had virtually no problems. I was on alate-night radio program in New York City. This woman called thestation and wanted me to come to her home. I was intending tospend the night at the bus station, so I said okay. She sent her chauffeurfor me, and I found myself in a millionaire’s home, talking to amiddle-aged woman who seemed like a child. She was so immature,and I wondered at her immaturity, until I realized that the womanhad been shielded from all problems by a group of servants andlawyers. She had never come to grips with life. She had not had problemsto grow on, and therefore had not grown. Problems are blessingsin disguise!
Were I to solve problems for others they would remain stagnant;they would never grow. It would be a great injustice to them. Myapproach is to help with cause rather than effect.When I help others,it is by instilling within them the inspiration to work out problemsby themselves. If you feed a man a meal, you only feed him for a day—but if you teach a man to grow food, you feed him for a lifetime.
It is through solving problems correctly that we grow spiritually.
We are never given a burden unless we have the capacity to overcomeit. If a great problem is set before you, this merely indicatesthat you have the great inner strength to solve a great problem.Thereis never really anything to be discouraged about, because difficultiesare opportunities for inner growth, and the greater the difficulty thegreater the opportunity for growth.
Difficulties with material things often come to remind us thatour concentration should be on spiritual things instead of materialthings. Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that thebody is just a transient garment, and that the reality is the indestructibleessence which activates the body. But when we can say, “ThankGod for problems which are sent for our spiritual growth,” they areproblems no longer.They then become opportunities.
Let me tell you a story of a woman who had a personal problem.
She lived constantly with pain. It was something in her back. I canstill see her, arranging the pillows behind her back so it wouldn’thurt quite so much. She was quite bitter about this. I talked to herabout the wonderful purpose of problems in our lives, and I tried toinspire her to think about God instead of her problems. I must havebeen successful to some degree, because one night after she had goneto bed she got to thinking about God.
“God regards me, this little grain of dust, as so important that hesends me just the right problems to grow on,” she began thinking.
And she turned to God and said, “Oh, dear God, thank you for thispain through which I may grow closer to thee.” Then the pain wasgone and it has never returned. Perhaps that’s what it means when itsays: ‘In all things be thankful.’ Maybe more often we should pray theprayer of thankfulness for our problems.
Prayer is a concentration of positive thoughts.
Many common problems are caused by wrong attitudes. Peoplesee themselves as the center of the universe and judge everything asit relates to them. Naturally you won’t be happy that way.You canonly be happy when you see things in proper perspective: all humanbeings are of equal importance in God’s sight, and have a job to doin the divine plan.
I’ll give you an example of a woman who had some difficultyfinding out what her job was in the divine plan. She was in her earlyforties, single, and needed to earn a living. She hated her work to theextent that it made her sick, and the first thing she did was to go toa psychiatrist who said he would adjust her to her job. So after someadjustment she went back to work. But she still hated her job. Shegot sick again and then came to me.Well, I asked what her callingwas, and she said, “I’m not called to do anything.”
That was not true.What she really meant was she didn’t knowher calling. So I asked her what she liked to do because if it is yourcalling you will do it as easily and joyously as I walk my pilgrimage.
I found she liked to do three things. She liked to play the piano, butwasn’t good enough to earn her living at that. She liked to swim, butwasn’t good enough to be a swimming instructor, and she liked towork with flowers.
I got her a job in a florist shop so she could earn her living workingwith flowers. She loved it. She said she would do it for nothing.
But we used the other things too. Remember, she needed more thanjust a livelihood. She needed other things.The swimming became herexercise. It fits in with sensible living habits. The piano playingbecame her path of service. She went to a retirement home andplayed the old songs for the people there. She got them to sing, andshe was good at that. Out of those three things such a beautiful lifewas built for that woman. She became a very attractive woman andmarried a year or so later. She stayed right in that life pattern.
I knew another woman who was confined to her room and hadbeen there for quite some time. I went in to see her and I could tellimmediately from the lines in her face and the tenseness of her thatit wasn’t physical at all.And I don’t think I had talked to her for morethan five minutes before she was telling me all about how mean hersister had been to her.The way she told it, I knew she had told thatstory again and again and mulled over in her mind constantly that bitternessagainst her sister. I found myself explaining to her that if shewould forgive, ask forgiveness, and make peace with her sister, thenshe could look for an improvement in her health. “Huh!” she said. “I’drather die. You have no idea how mean she was.” So the situationdrifted for awhile.
But early one morning at dawn this woman wrote a beautiful andinspired letter to her sister, which she showed to me. (There is somethingvery wonderful to be said about dawn. Sunset is good, too.Theonly thing is, at sunset most everybody is awake and they’re hurryingand scurrying around. At dawn most everybody is slowed downor asleep and they are much more harmonious when they’re asleep.
So dawn is often a good time for spiritual things.) I immediately wentinto town and mailed the letter before she could change her mind.
When I got back, she had changed her mind—so it’s a good thing Ihad mailed it! She worried a little, but by return mail came a letterfrom her sister, and her sister was so glad they were to be reconciled.
And, you know, on the same day that letter arrived from her sisterthe woman was up and around and out of bed, and the last I saw ofher she was joyously off for a reconciliation with her sister.
There’s something to that old saying that hate injures the hater,not the hated.
Some people spend much less time picking a life partner thanthey spend picking out a car.They just drift into these relationships.
No one should enter the family pattern unless one is as muchcalled into it as I was called to my pilgrimage. Otherwise, there willbe tragedy. I can remember a woman who couldn’t get along withher husband and I could see they didn’t have anything in common. Ifinally said to her, “Why in the world did you marry that man in thefirst place?” And she said, “All my girlfriends were getting marriedand he was the best I could do at the time.” This happens all the time.
Do you wonder why there are so many divorces? People get into thefamily pattern without being called into it.
Emotional attachment can be a terrible thing.When I was workingwith people who had problems it often was a problem of someemotional attachment that obviously needed to be broken. One wasa sixteen year old girl. By now she is probably happily married tosomebody else. I always say time heals all wounds, but she thoughtthen that her heart was broken because her boyfriend had marriedsomeone else. Although she had a hard time coming through it, aftera time she was able to look upon it philosophically. It does take time.
In fact, sometimes people recover quicker from the death of a lovedone than from a loved one who has left them.
On the Worry Habit.
Live this day! Yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only avision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happinessand every tomorrow a vision of hope. Never agonize over thepast or worry over the future. Live this day and live it well.
Worry is a habit. It is something that can be worked on. I call itrelinquishment of the worry habit. There are techniques that help. Italk to some beautiful church people and I discover they still worry.
It’s a total waste of time and energy. If you are a praying person whoprays with faith, you would immediately, and automatically, takewhat you’re worried about to God in prayer and leave it in God’shands—the best possible hands. This is one technique which isexcellent. In the beginning you may have to take it back to Godquite a number of times before you develop the habit (which I havedeveloped) of always doing everything you can in a situation, andthen leaving the rest safely in God’s hands.
How often are you worrying about the present moment? Thepresent is usually all right. If you’re worrying, you’re either agonizingover the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or elseyou’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet.Wetend to skim right over the present moment which is the only momentGod gives any of us to live. If you don’t live the present moment, younever get around to living at all. And if you do live the presentmoment, you tend not to worry. For me, every moment is a new andwonderful opportunity to be of service.
On the Anger Habit.
I’ll mention here a couple of other habits. One of them is theanger habit. Tremendous energy comes with anger. It’s sometimescalled the anger energy. Do not suppress it: that would hurt youinside. Do not express it: this would not only hurt you inside, itwould cause ripples in your surroundings.What you do is transformit.You somehow use that tremendous energy constructively on a taskthat needs to be done, or in a beneficial form of exercise.
The best way to talk to you about this is to tell you what somepeople actually did. For instance, one woman washed all the windowsin the house, another woman vacuumed the house whether itneeded it or not, and another baked bread—nice, whole grain bread.
And another one sat down and played the piano: wild marches atfirst, then she’d cool down and play gentle things like hymns and lullabies,and then I knew she was all right.
There was a man who got out his manual lawnmower. Remember,the manual lawnmower has no motor.You may never haveseen one! And he mowed his big lawn. I was staying next door tohim.Then one day he came over and borrowed his neighbor’s powerlawnmower. I spoke to him about it and he said, “Oh, without theanger energy I could never mow that big lawn with a manuallawnmower.” You see, it’s really tremendous energy.
Then there was this man who saved his marriage. He had such abad temper that his young wife was about to leave him and take theirtwo small children along. And he said, “I’m going to do somethingabout this!” And he did.Whenever he felt a temper tantrum comingon, instead of throwing things all over the house which had been hisprevious custom, he got out there and jogged. Round and round theblock, until he was all out of breath and the energy was all gone—and he saved his marriage. It worked. I saw him again years later, andI asked him, “Well, are you still jogging?” “Oh, a little bit for exercise,”
he said, “but I haven’t had a temper tantrum for years.” As youuse the energy constructively you lose the anger habit.
These techniques have also worked with children. I recall oneten year old boy. I was trying to help his mother because she washaving an awful time with him. He got temper tantrums and onetime, when he was not having a tantrum, I asked him, “Of all thethings you do what takes the most energy?” And he said, “I guess runningup the hill in the back of the house.” And so we found a wonderfulsolution. Every time his mother saw the sign of a tempertantrum she would push him out the door and say, “Go run up thehill.” It worked so well that when a teacher told me she was having asimilar problem with a boy about the same age I suggested she tellhim to run around the schoolhouse, and that worked too.
Now I’ll tell you about another couple.They got mad at the sametime, and they decided to walk around the block. One walked oneway and one walked the other way, but they met at frequent intervals.
And when they could meet amicably they walked home togetherand discussed what had caused their angers and what could be doneto remedy it in the future. This was a very wise thing to do. Youshould never try to talk to someone who is angry, because thatperson is not rational at that time.
I’ll tell one more story about a young mother. She has threechildren under school age and she said, “When I get mad I feel likerunning, but I can’t. I can’t leave my three small children. And I usuallyend up taking it out on them.” I said to her, “Have you ever triedrunning in place?” And I could just see her running in place. Shewrote to me: “Peace, it works wonderfully well. It not only gets ridof the anger energy, but it amuses the children!”
On the Fear Habit.
Fear is also a habit. Fear can be taught and is taught constantly.
Fear is perpetuated.
Now, I haven’t the slightest fear. God is always with me. But I hada friend who was afraid of a certain ethnic group of people. Her husbandhad been transferred to another place and she found herselfliving among this group of people whom she had always feared. Iworked with her and first got her acquainted with the music of thesepeople, because she was a musician. Then I found a woman of thisparticular group who had two children about the same age as myfriend’s two children, and we went to see her.The two little boys ranoff together, the two little girls ran off together, and then we proceededto get acquainted. Of course, they became fast friends. Iremember the time they attended one another’s churches. It was alovely thing. One Sunday they both went to one church and anotherSunday they both went to the other church. It was very interestingthat when they got to know each other they discovered that theirlikenesses were much greater than their differences. They came tolove each other when they got to know each other.
I knew a lady who was a college English professor. Any timethere was the slightest rumble of thunder in the distance she becamehysterical.When she was a tiny child, whenever there was a thundershowerher mother ran and crawled under the bed and, of course, thekids crawled under with her. She was taught by her mother to fearthundershowers—by example.That’s the way children are taught.
Almost all fear is fear of the unknown. Therefore, what’s theremedy? To become acquainted with the thing you fear.We had to learnall the safety rules before we could become acquainted with thundershowers,but it worked.
I’ll tell you another story about fear. I’ve heard of women whoare afraid of mice. And I’ve personally known women and men whoare afraid of dogs. But this woman was afraid of cats. I’m not talkingabout a wild cat—just common, ordinary household cats. Now therewere cats in her neighborhood.All of her friends had cats. Every timeshe encountered a cat she screamed, she ran, she became hysterical.
She told me she thought every cat she encountered was about tojump at her throat. Now, a psychologist would say, “When she was ababy she was frightened by a cat; she’s forgotten that but it stillremains in her subconscious.” Which might be true. It doesn’tmatter. I said, “If you wish to lose your fear of cats you must becomeacquainted with a cat.” “Oh no!” she replied. I said, “Well, are youafraid of a kitten?” “Not if it’s small enough,” she said. So I borroweda cute, small kitten. They said I could either borrow it or keep it. Ibrought it to her and I said, “Now are you afraid of that?” “Oh, notthat little thing,” she said. “All right,” I said, “now you must becomeacquainted.You must feed it, play with it.” And of course you knowthe end of the story. The kitten grew into a cat, but by then she wasso attached to it she wouldn’t give it up.
Some fears can come from experiences in former lives. In factthe last problem I told about may have had such a source. These aredealt with in the same way.You become acquainted with the thingsyou fear.
There are a few places where you have to use a little differentapproach. I’ll tell you one case where we used the gradual approach.
This woman was afraid to sleep in a small room; she would go into asmall room, but would not sleep there. This fear did come from aprevious life experience. She came for help to where I was working.
We put up a cot in the corner of the library (a very large room) forher. She was even afraid to sleep there alone, so I put up another cotand slept there with her the first night. Then when she had learnedto at least sleep alone in the library, we put a cot in the dining room,the next smaller room. I slept next to her the first night, and thenafter that she gradually learned to sleep by herself.Then we tried thebiggest bedroom that we had, and so on until she came to the pointwhere she was able to sleep in a small bedroom.
You do not necessarily have to use this gradual method.We didbecause there are a few kinds of fear that are easier to deal with usingthe gradual technique. Another one of them is fear of heights, andthis also may come from prior experience. Let me tell you, someyoung, vigorous people have a fear of heights.
What I used to do when people had a fear of heights was to takethem to a height where they felt comfortable and really didn’t wantto go any higher.Then I would stay with them for awhile. I would leaveSolving Life’s Problems / 67them there with something to read, something to occupy them whilethey stayed at that height for awhile.The next day we would go immediatelyto that height and then a little bit higher. Finally they reachedthe top, accustomed to the height, and no longer had any fear of it.
I have been asked if a certain amount of fear is healthy. I don’tthink any amount of fear is healthy. Unless you’re talking about thefact that if you have fear about a street, you’ll look up and downbefore crossing the street. But you see, I believe we are required todo everything possible for ourselves and therefore when I walk outonto a street I always look up and down. But I don’t think that’s fear.
That’s just being sensible. I don’t connect that in any way with fear.
For instance, I know that if there are little pebbles scattered over asmooth rock, I’m liable to slip if I step on those little pebbles, so I’mcareful not to. I’m not afraid, it’s just the sensible thing to do.
On Divine Protection.
Recently, while I was leading a group of people on an educationaland inspirational tour of four of the Hawaiian Islands, a policemanwarned us not to sleep on the beach. It seems there had been amurder on that beach. I was very concerned about all the fear beingperpetuated on those beautiful islands. I had no fear. One member ofthe group tried to tell me about the dangers of the beach. I said toher, “All of us are under the protection of my guardian angel.” Andwe didn’t have the slightest incident on any beach.
We were on the beach one night where I think we were the onlyAnglos. The others were so nice. Several people came up and onesaid, “A few years back I saw you on television.” It must have beenfive years before, on my first visit to the islands.They even asked forautographs! So I think we should not be apprehensive. I don’t thinkthat apprehension can do anything except attract. “That which I fearedcame upon me.” I felt perfectly safe on the beach and I felt my wholecrowd was protected, and they were.
I have a sense of definite protection.Twice I have felt the need toget out of cars I was riding in, and once I saw why. Now, I didn’t getout of the car when I was coming down over the “grapevine” into LosAngeles with two high school students. They were seeing how fastthey could get the old Chevy to go down hill. I was in the back seatand I felt perfectly all right.
But one time I was with a man who was drinking whisky, and Ioffered to drive for him. I showed him my driver’s license, but hewouldn’t let me drive, so I asked him to let me off at the junction.
Then I was picked up in a little truck, and we hadn’t gone even fivemiles before we saw the other car. It had gone down into an arroyoand sideswiped a cottonwood tree. On the side where I had been theglass was broken and the roof was bashed in. So at once I saw why Ifelt the need to get out. The driver wasn’t badly hurt. He was cutsome but not really hurt.
Another time I did not see any result, but I felt the need to getout.This man was driving recklessly. He would cross over the doublecenter line and pass cars when he couldn’t see at all. So I got out. Ithen got in with a man who was going east at the junction and thereforeI never saw what happened to the other car. I don’t know. I hopenothing.
So a certain amount of being sensible is good, such as looking upand down a street before you cross, but certainly not the kind offoolish fears many human beings have.You see, if you’re going to befearful—let’s say, about sleeping on a beach—you must be terrifiedevery time you sleep in your own home. Look how many people arekilled in their own home. Or when you sleep in a hotel room. Lookhow many people are killed in hotel rooms. This can lead to ridiculousbehavior.
I do have a sense of complete protection. If I had felt in any waylike I felt in those two cars, I would have taken the whole crowd offthe beach. However, I felt absolute protection; I hadn’t the slightestapprehension. I knew we were perfectly safe when we stayed on thebeach.
There are many things we do not fully understand.We just knowthey happen. For instance, I have been kept from some things thatcould have hurt me. I was walking down a lane which I knew to be asmall lane.The trees met overhead. I could not really see where I wasgoing, but I knew this lane through prior experience, and I could seelight at the end of the tunnel. Now I was walking very fast whensomething, that I can only call a force, stopped me. I mean it waspowerful enough to stop me. Then I started ahead very gingerly tosee what in the world had happened— and there was a barbed wirestretched across the lane.They were repairing the cattle guard at theend of the lane, which I did not know, and had stretched this wireacross to keep the cattle from straying. I would have run into the wireif I had not been stopped.We have much more protection than werealize.
The most significant thing of this kind happened when I wasdriving a car. I’ve given up my driver’s license now, but all throughmy driving days I was a good, stable driver, and the car was alwaysunder my control. This time I was driving somebody else’s car overa road that was not finished yet. Coming down an incline, there wasa traffic light at the end of the road where you had to turn either oneway or the other. Cars were turning both ways, and turning up on tothe road past me. I naturally put my foot on the brake when I saw thelight was red, but I had no brakes! I grabbed for the emergency. I hadno emergency. I thought if I could put the car into reverse it wouldstop, although this would tear it to pieces. I attempted to get it intoreverse but it wouldn’t go. Ahead of me I saw a station wagon withtwo little children looking out of the back window. I had to stop thecar! I couldn’t turn to the left—there was a rock wall there—andcars were coming up thick and fast.There was a rock wall to the rightwith a ditch, and my little finite mind said, “Take to the ditch, sideswipethe rock wall. It’ll stop the car. It’ll tear it up, but it will stopit.” I was not able to do that. This was the only time in my life when acar was taken out of my control. The car turned to the left, wentbetween two cars, and went up a little dirt road on an incline, whichof course stopped the car. I didn’t know the dirt road was there. Icouldn’t possibly see it.
So you see, I’ve had such amazing things happen to me.You canunderstand why I feel full of absolute protection. That protectionextends even to any group that I am with.
A Helpful Meditation.
I’d like to share this little meditation with you. First, could weagree that God’s protection surrounds us? Know that you are God’sbeautiful child, always in God’s hands. Accept God ...accept God’sprotection ...there is really no problem to fear. Know that you arenot the clay garment. Know that you are not the self-centered naturewhich governs your life needlessly. Know that you are the God-centerednature. The Kingdom of God within. The Indwelling Christ.
Eternal and indestructible. Identify with the real you.
Peace...be still...and know...that I am God.
Peace...be still...and know...that I am.
Peace...be still...and Know.
Peace...be still.
Peace...be.
Peace...
Peace...
Peace.
And now, with the knowledge that we are God’s perfect children,eternal and indestructible, let us go our separate ways in love, butalways remain together in spirit.
God bless you and peace to you all.
CHAPTER 7: Living the Spiritual Life
IN THE BEGINNING I undertook my walking not only to contactpeople, I undertook it as a prayer discipline to keep me concentratedon my prayer for peace. I hadn’t learned yet to pray withoutceasing. I also undertook a forty-five day period of prayer and fastingas a prayer discipline.
After the first few years the prayer discipline was completelyunnecessary, because I had learned to pray without ceasing. I made thecontact so thoroughly that into my prayer consciousness I put anycondition or person in the world I am concerned about and the resttakes place automatically.
Occasionally some condition is brought back into my consciousmind because I need to really concentrate on it. If some person is indire difficulty, and that person returns to my mind for thought, Isometimes use the prayer of visualization, which has always beenvery natural for me, but I understand not so for everybody. I reachout—my divine nature reaches out—to contact their divine nature.
Then I have the feeling of lifting them, lifting them, lifting them, andI have the feeling of bringing God’s light to them. I try to envisionthem bathed in God’s light, and finally I do see them standing andreaching out their arms bathed in golden light. At that point I leavethem in God’s hands.
In all people I meet—though some may be governed by the selfcenterednature and may not know their potential at all—I see thatdivine spark, and that’s what I concentrate on. All people look beautifulto me; they look like shining lights to me. I always have the feelingof being thankful for these beautiful people who walk the earthwith me.
So I would say part of my prayer is a feeling of thankfulness, andof course a feeling of genuine love for all of God’s children and all ofGod’s creation. Prayer is a concentration of positive thoughts.That’sa little bit about prayer.
Ways of Prayer.
You can visualize God’s light each day and send it to someonewho needs help.Your divine nature must reach out and touch thedivine nature of another. Within you is the light of the world, it mustbe shared with the world.
Visualize a golden light within you and spread it out. First tothose about you—your circle of friends and relatives—and thengradually to the world. Keep on visualizing God’s golden lightsurrounding our earth.
And if you have a problem, take the matter to God in prayer,and visualize it in God’s hands. Then leave it, knowing it is inthe best possible hands, and turn your attention to other things.
That’s not the only prayer you can pray, but I have discoveredthat for some who were in very great trouble, this prayer of visualizationwas helpful to them. I’ve heard of results later, so I do a littleof this.
There is also a constant prayer of thankfulness—I am constantlythankful. The world is so beautiful, I am thankful. I have endlessenergy, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of UniversalSupply, I am thankful. I am plugged into the source of UniversalTruth, I am thankful. I have this constant feeling of thankfulness,which is a prayer.
When you’re learning, it’s true it may be valuable to take specialtimes, even to use special forms... I can see that.
Several times people have written to me and said, “Peace, willyou pray with me at four o’clock in the afternoon or nine o’clock inthe evening, which is such and such a time, daylight saving time?” Iwrite and tell them, “You don’t have to figure all that out for me—plug in at anytime and you will be praying with me, and I will be prayingwith you, because I pray without ceasing.”
Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there evenwords. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God; it is asincere seeking for a good thing; and it is a concentration on thething sought, with faith that it is obtainable. All right prayer has goodeffect, but if you give your whole life to the prayer you multiply itspower ...No one really knows the full power of prayer. Of course,there is a relationship between prayer and action. Receptive prayerresults in an inner receiving, which motivates to right action.
Let me tell you a story about an answer to prayer. I was pickedup late one night by a young policeman as I was walking along alonely highway. I believe he was thinking in terms of protective custody.
He said to me,“Why, nobody in this town would walk out alongthis highway at this time of night.”
I said to him,“Well, you see, I walk completely without fear.ThereforeI’m not attracting things which are not good. It says, That which Ifeared came upon me. But I fear nothing and expect only good.”
He took me in anyhow, and I found myself in a cell.The floor waslittered with old newspapers and cigarette butts and every old thing.
The accommodations consisted of a single mattress on the floor andfour ragged blankets. There were two women attempting to sleeptogether on that single mattress.They told me there had been eightwomen in that cell the night before with those accommodations.
There was a rather nice feeling among the prisoners in general.Theysaid to me, “You’ll need to have two blankets because you’ll be sleepingon the floor.” So I took a newspaper and cleared a place on thefloor, then put one blanket down and the other blanket over me andslept comfortably enough.
It wasn’t the first time I had slept on a cement floor, nor the last.
If you’re relaxed you can sleep anywhere. When I woke up in themorning I saw this man staring through the bars. I said to him,“Whattime does court convene?” He said, “I don’t know.” I said, “Well,aren’t you a policeman?” “No,” he said, “I just like to look at thegirls.” It was one of the town sports.Anyone could come in right offthe street and see what they had there today: “Let’s go look at thegirls!”
One of the women was middle aged and was being held for beingdrunk and disorderly. It was her seventh offense, she told me, so itwasn’t so hard on her. But the other was an eighteen year old girl.
She felt her entire life was ruined because of this experience. I said,“It’s my second time and I certainly don’t think my life is ruined!” Igot her all cheered up and we talked about what she’d do when shegot out. She was to get out that day or the next day.
Then they changed the guards. I never saw a matron. The newguard saw me and said, “What are you doing in there? I saw yourpicture in the newspaper. I heard you over the air.” Then they just letme go.
But before I left I got a broom from the man who cleaned uparound there and gave it to the girls so they could clean up their cell.
I also got them a comb; their hair was all matted.They had been thereabout a week without a comb.
What I really wanted to tell you is that the eighteen year old girlwas a deeply religious person. She had been desperately praying forhelp. I believe that I was picked up off the highway that night and setbehind prison bars in answer to her prayers.
The most important part of prayer is what we feel, not what wesay.We spend a great deal of time telling God what we think shouldbe done, and not enough time waiting in the stillness for God to tellus what to do.
Now, beside God’s laws, which are the same for all of us, thereis also God’s guidance and that is unique for every human soul. If youdon’t know what God’s guidance for your life is, you might try seekingin receptive silence. I used to walk receptive and silent amidst thebeauties of nature.Wonderful insights would come to me which Ithen put into practice in my life.
You might prefer listening to beautiful, uplifting music, readinga few beautiful words and pondering on them.To me, the beauties ofnature were always the most inspiring, and so actually that was mytime alone with God. It didn’t last more than an hour, if that, and Igot so much from it.
Now the young folks talk to me today about things like breathingexercises and meditation techniques, which in some cultures aredefinitely religious practices. But I say, look what I got from my timealone with God: From the beauty around me, my inspiration; fromthe silent receptiveness, my meditation; and from my walking, notonly my exercise but my breathing. Four things at once! I believe inmaking very good use of my time. And you can’t be too pushy whenyou’re doing four things at once.
Foolish people have sometimes used very strenuous breathingexercises or meditation techniques that tore them apart and pushedthem into an undesirable state instead of into the spiritual state. (Yes,that was long before psychedelic drugs!) I always think of the bud ofa flower. If you give it proper conditions it will open into a beautifulflower, but if you’re impatient and try to tear the petals open youpermanently injure the flower for the earth life. The flower can beequated with the earthly human life. Give the spiritual growing-upthe proper growing conditions and it will open into a thing of beauty.
When you feel the need of a spiritual lift, try getting to bed earlyand get up early to have a quiet time at dawn.Then carry the serene“in tune” feeling that comes to you into your day, no matter what youmay be doing.
For those of you who are seeking the spiritual life, I recommendthese four daily practices: Spend time alone each day in receptivesilence. When angry, or afflicted with any negative emotion, taketime to be alone with God. (Do not talk with people who are angry;they are irrational and cannot be reasoned with. If you or they areangry, it is best to leave and pray.) Visualize God’s light each day andsend it to someone who needs help. Exercise the body, it is thetemple of the soul.
On Fasting.
I have been asked about my forty-five day period of prayer andfasting. I undertook it as a prayer discipline, to keep me concentratedon my prayer for peace. It was in the second year of my pilgrimagewhen I was coming slowly back across the country and I wasn’t walkingextensively.
Fasting can have a great deal of spiritual significance, and thoughI had already found inner peace, it may have been that the fast helpedme to learn to pray without ceasing.
While I fasted I was at the home of a chiropractor who used fastingfor healing. He wanted to see how a well person would react toa fast because he had never fasted a well person. I talked to him as afriend; he just observed me, he didn’t examine me. (There are manydoctors, including medical doctors, who are my friends—but noneof them have ever treated me or even examined me. Although occasionallya dentist friend will repair an old cavity which came from mypoor eating habits in younger days.) The last meal before my fast wasa grapefruit and two oranges, so I wasn’t thirsty.The first three dayswere undertaken without food or water. After that I took distilledwater at room temperature. Nothing else. And when I broke my fastit was not unusual—it was the regular way to break a fast.The juiceof one freshly squeezed orange every hour the first day. The juice oftwo freshly squeezed oranges, alternating with the juice of onegrapefruit, every two hours the second day. A grapefruit and twooranges three times the third day, and after that adding a little bituntil in a week I was able to eat full rations.
It was no different from the usual pattern of fasting. I did obeythe laws of fasting: no extreme exertion. I did not walk long distances,though I did walk some. I did some typing for the doctor. Ityped until he took the typewriter away about a month along in thefast. He didn’t think I ought to handle it anymore, so then I wrote byhand, which was really harder than typing. But I do the best I canwith these things.
I didn’t go in and talk to his patients as much as I would haveliked to because he didn’t want me to move around that much. I didgo to see them occasionally to help keep up their spirits.
Once during my fast—I remember I was in a state betweenwakefulness and sleep—I looked up and saw a dismal cross aboveme. It was just hanging there, and I knew someone must take up theburden. I reached up to accept it and I was immediately lifted abovethe cross where all was light and beauty. All that was needed was thewillingness to accept the burden—and then I was raised above it.
Instead of hardships, I found a wonderful sense of peace and joy.
On Healing.
One must be very careful when praying for others to pray for theremoval of the cause and not the removal of the symptom. A simplehealing prayer is this:
“Bring this life into harmony with Divine Purpose...may thislife come into harmony with God’s Will. May you so live that allwho meet you will be uplifted, that all who bless you will be blessed,that all who serve you will receive the greatest satisfaction. If anyshould attempt to harm you, may they contact your thought of Godand be healed.”
Eager beaver psychic healers are those who work on the removalof symptoms and not the removal of cause. When you desire phenomena,you possess phenomena; you do not get God. Let’s say I ama psychic healer living next door to you, and you have chosen tocome into this life to face some kind of physical symptom until youhave removed the cause. Well, when the symptom manifests, Iremove it. And so the symptom manifests again, and I then remove itagain, and I manage to keep that symptom removed.
When you step over to the disembodied side of life, for anotherreason altogether, instead of blessing me for having removed thesymptom you’ll say, “That meddler! I came to solve this problem butshe kept removing the symptom and therefore I never solved it!”
That’s what I mean when I speak about some who are content todeal with the removal of symptoms.When one meddles in the life ofanother it will just cause the symptoms not only to re-manifest, butcarry over into another lifetime. Most healers do not know this andthey go on merrily removing symptoms.
I admit that a long time ago, before I really knew what I wasdoing, when working with people who had problems I comfortedthem by putting my hands on the back of their neck and the forehead.
I certainly wouldn’t do that now. I did not realize I was doinganything but to comfort. Now I place any problem into my prayerconsciousness. I place it into the best possible hands—God’s hands,and turn my attention to other things.
The Power of Thought.
Are you a slave to your self-centered nature, or does your divinenature guide your life? Do you know that every moment of your lifeyou’re creating through thought? You create your own inner condition;you’re helping create the conditions around you.
Christian teachings tell us that “As a man thinketh in his heart, so ishe.” Which is saying very clearly that we are creating the conditionsaround us. If we could look a bit more deeply into life, we might seethat physical difficulties are reflections of spiritual difficulties, andthat negative thoughts and feelings are much more harmful than diseasegerms.
If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would neverthink a defeatist or negative thought. Since we create throughthought, we need to concentrate very strongly on positive thoughts.
If you think you can’t do something, you can’t. But if you think youcan, you may be surprised to discover that you can. It is importantthat our thoughts be constantly for the best that could happen in asituation—for the good things we would like to see happen.
I have met some NewAge people who had heard some predictionof disaster and were actually concentrating on that.What a terriblething to do! Why, we’re creating every moment of our lives throughthought.And we’re helping to create the conditions around us.
When you hear of any predictions of disaster there’s a reason forit.The reason is that you are to throw the entire weight of your positivethought in the opposite direction.
For instance, when there were dozens of predictions that half ofCalifornia was to slide into the sea from a terrible earthquake, Ideliberately planned to be in that section of California.There wasn’ta tremor. But I missed some of my friends who were on the eastcoast, playing it safe.
Remember where it says there shall be prophecies and they shallfail? Why is it? Because all you can predict is the trend of things.Youcan never say what the outcome will be, because we are constantlyable to turn that prediction in another direction, in a positive directionif we get together on that.
Every good thing you do, every good thing you say, every goodthought you think, vibrates on and on and never ceases. The evilremains only until it is overcome by the good, but the good remainsforever.
Just concentrate on thinking and living and acting in harmonywith God’s laws and inspiring others to do likewise.
Every time you meet a person, think of some encouraging thingto say—a kind word, a helpful suggestion, an expression of admiration.
Never think of any right effort as being fruitless. All right effortbears fruit, whether we see the results or not.
Be a sweet melody in the great orchestration, instead of a discordantnote. The medicine this sick world needs is love. Hatred mustbe replaced by love, and fear by faith that love will prevail.
A song has this phrase: Love is flowing like a river, flowing out fromyou and me. Spreading out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
Yes, the captives are those who don’t know who they are, thosewho don’t know they are God’s children.
Remember this: Be still and know that I am God. Don’t ever forgetwho you are! You cannot be where God is not.
The Change Called Death.
Life is a series of tests, but if you pass your tests you’ll look backupon them as good experiences. I look back on all of my tests as goodexperiences, including the night I faced death in a blinding snowstorm.
It was the first year of my pilgrimage and the most beautifulexperience I ever had.
I was walking in a very isolated section of the high mountains ofArizona where there was no human habitation for many miles.Thatafternoon there came a surprising snowstorm, out of season. I havenever seen such a storm. If the snow had been rain you would havecalled it a cloudburst. Never had I seen snow dumped down like that!
All of a sudden I was walking in deep snow and was unable to seethrough what was falling. Suddenly I realized that the cars hadstopped running. I supposed they were getting stuck on the highwayand unable to pass. Then it got dark. There must have been a heavycloud cover. I could not see my hand before my face, and the snowwas blowing into my face and closing my eyes. It was getting cold. Itwas the kind of cold that penetrates into the marrow of the bone.
If ever I were to lose faith and feel fear, this would have been thetime, because I knew there was no human help at hand. Instead, thewhole experience of the cold and the snow and the darkness seemedunreal. Only God seemed real...nothing else. I made a completeidentification—not with my body, the clay garment which isdestructible—but with the reality which activates the body and isindestructible.
I felt so free; I felt that everything would be all right, whether Iremained to serve in this earth life or if I went on to serve in anotherfreer life beyond. I felt guided to keep on walking, and I did, eventhough I couldn’t tell whether I was walking along the highway orout into some field. I couldn’t see anything. My feet in my low canvasshoes were like lumps of ice. They felt so heavy as I plodded along.
My body began to turn numb with cold.
After there was more numbness than pain, there came whatsome would call an hallucination—and what some would call avision. It was as though I became aware, not only of the embodiedside of life where everything was black darkness, bitter cold andswirling snow—but also so close it seemed I could step right into it,of the unembodied side of life where everything was warmth and light.
There was such great beauty. It began with familiar color, but transcendedfamiliar color. It began with familiar music, but transcendedfamiliar music.
Then I saw beings.They were very far away. One of them movedtoward me very quickly. When she came close enough, I recognizedher. She looked much younger than she had looked when she passedover.
I believe that at the time of the beginning of the change calleddeath, those nearest and dearest come to welcome us. I have beenwith dying friends who have stepped over and I remember well howthey talked to their loved ones on both sides ...as though they wereall right there in the room together.
So I thought my time had come to step over, and I greeted her. Ieither said or thought, “You have come for me?” But she shook herhead! She motioned for me to go back! And just at that exactmoment I ran into the railing of a bridge.The vision was gone.
Because I felt guided to do so, I groped my way down that snowyembankment and got under the bridge. There I found a large cardboardpacking box with wrapping paper in it.Very slowly and clumsilyin my numb condition, I managed to get myself into that packingbox, and somehow with my numbed fingers managed to pull thewrapping paper around me. There under the bridge, during thesnowstorm, I slept. Even there shelter had been provided—but providedalso was this experience.
Had you looked at me in the midst of the snowstorm, you mighthave said, “What a terrible experience that poor woman is goingthrough.” But looking back on it I can only say: What a wonderfulexperience in which I faced death, feeling not fear, but the constantawareness of the presence of God, which is what you take right overwith you.
I believe I had the great privilege of experiencing the beginningof the change called death. So now I can rejoice with my loved onesas they make the glorious transition to a freer living. I can look forwardto the change called death as life’s last great adventure.
I have been asked what I mean when I’ve said I had started theprocess we call death. Of course, the change called death is a process.
First you begin to perceive not only this side of life, but the unembodiedside of life. Then you begin to recognize loved ones on theunembodied side as they move toward you, and you find you cancommunicate with both sides.That’s as far as I went. Next comes thebreaking of the “silver cord”—and then communication with thoseon this side is cut off, although you can still see and hear them.Youfind yourself in the “common meeting place” with your unembodiedloved ones for a wondrous reunion, and later you go to the levelwhere you are to learn, and also to serve, if you are far enoughadvanced.
The unembodied side of life is right here in another dimension. Thetwo worlds intermingle.We are aware of our world but they areaware of both worlds—usually. Some communication is possible; forinstance, we can pray for them and they can pray for us.
Death is a beautiful liberation into a freer life. The limiting claygarment, the body, is put aside. The self-centered nature goes withyou to learn and grow on the disembodied side of life, and thenreturns here into a suitable clay garment and suitable circumstancesto learn the lessons we need to learn. Could we but see a bit deeperinto life, we would grieve at birth and rejoice at death. If we butknew how short is the earth life in comparison with the whole, wewould be less troubled with the difficulties of the earth life than weare troubled now with the difficulties of one of our days.
The memorial service should be a joyous farewell party, recallingthe good the person has done, reading favorite poems and singingfavorite songs. If we did this, the liberated one would be rejoicingwith us.
As I accepted the change of the golden hair of my childhood tothe reddish-brown hair of my youth without regret, so I also acceptmy silver hair—and I am ready to accept the time when my hair andthe rest of my clay garment returns to the dust from which it came,while my spirit goes on to freer living. It is the season for my hair tobe silver, and each season has its lessons to teach. Each season of lifeis wonderful if you have learned the lessons of the season before. Itis only when you go on with lessons unlearned that you wish for areturn.
On Religion.
Religion is not an end in itself. One’s union with God is the ultimategoal. There are so many religions because immature peopletend to emphasize trivial differences instead of important likenesses.
Differences between faiths lie in creeds and rituals rather than religiousprinciples.
How diverse the many paths seem to be at times, but do they notall come together eventually upon the same mountaintop? Are theynot all striving for the same thing?
If you are guided toward a faith, use it as a stepping stone toGod, not as a barrier between yourself and God’s other children oras a tower to hold you aloft from others. If you are not guided towarda faith (or even if you are) seek God in the silence—seek within.
When we attempt to isolate another we only isolate ourselves.
We are all God’s children and there are no favorites. God isrevealed to all who seek; God speaks to all who will listen. Be stilland know God.
I am a deeply religious person, but I belong to no denomination.
I follow the spirit of God’s law, not the letter of the law. Onecan become so attached to the outward symbols and structure ofreligion that one forgets its original intent—to bring one closer toGod.We can only gain access to the Kingdom of God by realizing itdwells within us as well as in all humanity. Know that we are all cellsin the ocean of infinity, each contributing to the others’ welfare.
I read the King James version of the New Testament in itsentirety and some excerpts from the Old Testament just after thebeginning of my pilgrimage. They are important books to a greatnumber of people, and I felt the need to inquire of their contents inorder to make my outreach to others more complete.Yes, the Biblecontains a great many truths, but most often these truths are notreally understood. People replace the spirit of the law with the letterof the law and truth becomes distorted into falsehood. If you desireconfirmation of a truth, it is best to seek it from within and not upona printed page.
You will note that Jesus says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’
and do not what I say?” He expresses this thought more than once.
Therefore, it seems to me that a real Christian would be living by thelaws of God that Jesus taught. Jesus also says, “Say not, ‘Lo here’ or‘Lo there’, for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” In somany illustrations he tells people what they are capable of. RealChristians would allow their lives to be governed by the Kingdom ofGod within—by the God-centered nature—which is sometimescalled the indwelling Christ.
Many people profess Christianity.Very few live it—almost none.
And when you live it people may think you’re crazy. It has beentruthfully said that the world is equally shocked by one who repudiatesChristianity and by one who practices it.
I believe Jesus would accept me because I do what he told peopleto do.This doesn’t mean, though, that all who call themselves Christianwould accept me. Of course I love and appreciate Jesus and Iwish Christians would learn to obey his commandments. It would bea most wonderful world.
The Way of Love.
Evil cannot be overcome by more evil. Evil can only be overcomeby good. It is the lesson of the way of love. The contest in theworld today is between the old way of attempting to overcome evilwith evil, which with modern weapons would lead to completechaos, and the way of overcoming evil with good, which would leadto a glorious and mature life.
We need not reach out to tear down that which is evil becausenothing which is contrary to God’s laws can endure. All not-goodthings in the world are transient, containing within themselves theseeds of their own destruction.We can help them to fade away morequickly only insofar as we remain in obedience to God’s law that evilmust be overcome with good.Those who create something which isevil in order to overcome something else which is evil only doublethe evil.
God’s laws are implemented constantly, for everything out ofharmony is on its way out. How can anyone doubt that eventuallyGod will prevail? It is only how soon that is up to us. And with howmuch violence they will pass away is also up to us. Insofar as we arewilling to let them go, there will be less violence—insofar as we havebeen able to build the new within the old, there will be less violence;so let us work on that. Let us help the phoenix to rise from the ashes,let us help lay the foundation for a new renaissance, let us help toaccelerate the spiritual awakening until it lifts us into the golden agewhich would come!
In order to help usher in the golden age we must see the good inpeople.We must know it is there, no matter how deeply it may beburied. Yes, apathy is there and selfishness is there—but good isthere also. It is not through judgment that the good can be reached,but through love and faith.
Pure love is a willingness to give, without a thought of receivinganything in return. Love can save the world from nuclear destruction.
Love God: turn to God with receptiveness and responsiveness.
Love your fellow human beings: turn to them with friendliness and givingness.
Make yourself fit to be called a child of God by living theway of love.
Do you know God? Do you know there is a power greater thanourselves which manifests itself within us as well as everywhere elsein the universe? This I call God. Do you know what it is to knowGod, to have God’s constant guidance, a constant awareness of God’spresence? To know God is to reflect love toward all people and allcreations.To know God is to feel peace within—a calmness, a serenity,an unshakeableness which enables you to face any situation. Toknow God is to be so filled with joy that it bubbles over and goesforth to bless the world.
I have only one desire now: to do God’s will for me.There is noconflict. When God guides me to walk a pilgrimage I do it gladly.
When God guides me to do other things I do them just as gladly. Ifwhat I do brings criticism upon me I take it with head unbowed. Ifwhat I do brings me praise I pass it immediately along to God, for Iam only the instrument through which God does the work. WhenGod guides me to do something I am given strength, I am givensupply, I am shown the way. I am given the words to speak.Whetherthe path is easy or hard I walk in the light of God’s love and peace andjoy, and I turn to God with psalms of thanksgiving and praise.This itis to know God.And knowing God is not reserved for the great ones.
It is for little folks like you and me. God is always seeking you—every one of you.
You can find God if you will only seek—by obeying divine laws,by loving people, by relinquishing self-will, attachments, negativethoughts and feelings. And when you find God it will be in the stillness.
You will find God within.
Thoughts to Ponderphotographed by Carla AnetteTHERE is NO GLIMPSE OF THE LIGHT without walking the path.
You can’t get it from anyone else, nor can you give it to anyone. Justtake whatever steps seem easiest for you, and as you take a few stepsit will be easier for you to take a few more.
When you know your part in the scheme of things, in the DivinePlan, there is never a feeling of inadequacy.You are always given theresources for any situation, any obstacle. There is no strain; there isalways security.
When you have constant communion with God, a constantreceiving from within, there is never any doubt; you know your way.
You become an instrument through which a job is done, thereforeyou have no feeling of self-achievement.
The spiritual life is the real life; all else is illusion and deception.
Only those who are attached to God alone are truly free. Only thosewho live up to the highest light live in harmony. All who act upontheir highest motivations become a power for good. It is not importantthat others be noticeably affected: results should never be soughtor desired. Know that every right thing you do—every good wordyou say—every positive thought you think—has good effect.
Thoughts to Ponder“This is me and all my earthly possessions.Think of how free I am.
If I want to travel, I just stand up and walk away.”
Few find inner peace but this is not because they try and fail, itis because they do not try.
There is nothing that happens by chance in our universe. Everythingunfolds according to higher laws—everything is regulated bydivine order.
Judging others will avail you nothing and injure you spiritually.
Only if you can inspire others to judge themselves will anythingworthwhile have been accomplished.
I perceived the entirely self-centered life as not worth living. Ifwhat you’re doing will not benefit others besides yourself, it is notworth doing.
The Godly way is one of the few simple precepts that even achild can understand.Truth is simple—it’s just not so simple to liveit. Therefore, immature people tend to hide behind complicatedinterpretations in order to avoid living simple truth.
Humanity has only scratched the surface of its real potential.
Anyone can plug into the Divine Current by discovering the truth ofJesus and other prophets who taught that the Kingdom of God is Within.
If you want to teach people, young or old, you must start wherethey are: at their level of understanding—and use words they understand.
When you have captured their attention, you can take them asfar as they are able to go. If you perceive that they are already beyondyour level of understanding, let them teach you. Since steps towardspiritual advancement are taken in such a varied order, most of us canteach one another.
Life is a mixture of successes and failures. May you be encouragedby the successes and strengthened by the failures.As long as younever lose faith in God, you will be victorious over any situation youmay face.
When you look at things emotionally, you will not see themclearly; when you perceive things spiritually, you will understand.
Live in the present. Do the things that need to be done. Do allthe good you can each day.The future will unfold.
There are many lessons to be learned and scales to be balanced.
The laws of the universe cannot be altered for one’s convenience.
Humanity must learn to accept everything that life offers as a learningexperience. It is for this reason spiritually immature peoplecannot be spoon-fed by someone else.The seeker must walk alone —with God.
If you give your life as a prayer, you intensify the prayer beyondall measure.
Although others may feel sorry for you, never feel sorry for yourself:
it has a deadly effect on spiritual well-being. Recognize all problems,no matter how difficult, as opportunities for spiritual growth,and make the most of these opportunities.
To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not justyour possessions. When you at last give your life—bringing intoalignment your beliefs and the way you live—then, and only then,can you begin to find inner peace.
CHAPTER 8: The Way of Peace
THIS IS THE WAY OF PEACE: Overcome evil with good, falsehood withtruth, and hatred with love.
It is hard for people to understand that all war is bad and selfdefeating.
People in their immaturity attempt to overcome evil withmore evil, and that multiplies the evil. Only good can overcome evil.
My simple peace message is adequate—really just the messagethat the way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest poweron earth. It conquers all things. One in harmony with God’s law oflove has more strength than an army, for one need not subdue anadversary; an adversary can be transformed.
One day as I was walking along the highway I began to sing peacewords to a familiar tune which I believe sums up the present worldsituation in a nutshell:
The world is feverishly working to build the things of war,The world is preparing destruction of a kind unknown before.
I hear much cursing of enemies, and arguments increase,But, oh, the world is longing, is yearning,Is praying for peace—for peace!
The nuclear bomb says to us: “Make peace or perish!” We recognizethat we can no longer think in terms of military victory, that anuclear war would mean mutual annihilation. Many face this criticalsituation with apathy, some with frustration, but only a very few faceit constructively.
There is such a great need for constructive peace action.We liveat a crisis period in human affairs, and those of us who are livingtoday face a very momentous decision: A choice between nuclearwar of annihilation and a golden age of peace. All who are livingtoday will help to make this choice, for the tide of world affairs nowdrifts in the direction of war and destruction. So all who do nothingin this crisis situation are choosing to let it drift.Those who wish tochoose peace must act meaningfully for peace. And become a part ofthe stirring and awakening which has begun and is accelerating. Andhelp to accelerate it sufficiently to turn the tide. In this crisis situationpeace is certainly everybody’s business! The time to work forpeace is now.
Ultimate peace begins within; when we find peace within therewill be no more conflict, no more occasion for war. If this is thepeace you seek, purify your body by sensible living habits, purifyyour mind by expelling all negative thoughts, purify your motives bycasting out any ideas of greed or self-striving and by seeking to serveyour fellow human beings, purify your desires by eliminating allwishes for material possessions or self-glorification and by desiringto know and do God’s will for you. Inspire others to do likewise.
Some will prefer to work on an interim peace—a setting up ofmechanisms to resolve conflicts in a world where conflicts stillexist—so that although there may still be psychological violencethere will no longer be physical violence. If this is the peace youseek, work on a world scale for world disarmament and reconstruction,for a world government which will include all people, forworld thinking: placing the welfare of the human family above thewelfare of any nation.Work on a national scale for changing thefunction of the so-called Defense Department from destruction toconstruction. So much constructive work is needed among the lessfortunate peoples in the world, and for the adjustment of our economyto a peacetime situation. Lots of problems to solve here. Getothers to work with you.
We can work on inner peace and world peace at the same time.
On one hand, people have found inner peace by losing themselves ina cause larger than themselves, like the cause of world peace, becausefinding inner peace means coming from the self-centered life into thelife centered in the good of the whole. On the other hand, one of theways of working for world peace is to work for more inner peace,because world peace will never be stable until enough of us findinner peace to stabilize it.
My inner peace remains in spite of any outward thing. Only insofaras I remain in harmony can I draw others into harmony, and somuch more harmony is needed before the world can find peace.Thisdoesn’t mean that I am not concerned about world happenings. Atime like this calls for much peace prayer and peace effort. All rightwork and all right prayer has effect, all good effort bears good fruit,whether we see the results or not. In spite of the darkness in thepresent world situation I am not discouraged. I know that just ashuman life proceeds toward harmony through a series of hills andvalleys, so a society has its ups and downs in its search for peace.
There is within the hearts of people deep desire for peace onearth, and they would speak for peace if they were not bound byapathy, by ignorance, by fear. It is the job of the peacemakers to inspirethem from their apathy, to dispel their ignorance with truth, to allaytheir fear with faith that God’s laws work—and work for good.
Knowing that all things contrary to God’s laws are transient, letus avoid despair and radiate hope for a warless world. Peace is possible,for thoughts have tremendous power.
A few really dedicated people can offset the ill effects of massesof out-of-harmony people, so we who work for peace must notfalter.We must continue to pray for peace and to act for peace inwhatever way we can, we must continue to speak for peace and tolive the way of peace; to inspire others, we must continue to think ofpeace and to know that peace is possible. What we dwell upon wehelp to bring into manifestation. One little person, giving all of hertime to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time,can make history.
One day a lady said to me, “Peace, I’m praying with you forpeace, but of course I don’t believe it’s possible.” I said, “Don’t youbelieve peace is God’s will?” “Oh, yes,” she said, “I know it is.” I said,“How can you tell me that which is God’s will is impossible? It’s notonly possible, it’s inevitable, but how soon is up to us.”
Never underestimate the power of a loosely knit group workingfor a good cause.All of us who work for peace together, all of us whopray for peace together, are a small minority, but a powerful spiritualfellowship. Our power is beyond our numbers.
Those who seem to fail pave the way and often contribute morethan those who finally succeed. I cannot help feeling grateful to thepeace pioneers, who worked for peace when the going was roughand there were no apparent results.
One of the most common questions asked of me is: “Have youseen any results from your pilgrimage?” The answer is that I’ve neverasked to see results—I leave the results in God’s hands.They may noteven be manifest in my lifetime, but eventually they will becomemanifest. And, believe it or not, I have seen results: Lots of lettersfrom people indicating they have been inspired to do something forpeace in their own way—anything from writing letters to Congressto making peace with some friend or relation. And it all adds up.
Now, as I look back at the overall efforts of all the peacemakers,I can see the results.When I began my pilgrimage, people acceptedwar as a necessary part of life. Now, the peacemakers are on the popularside! When I started out, there was very little interest in theinner search. I could actually make an inquiry at a state college anddiscover that two-thirds to three-quarters of the students at that timeconsidered themselves agnostic if not atheist. Now, I can hardly finda student or a person who isn’t interested in the deepest kind ofsearching.To me that is the most hopeful sign of all.
On the one hand it can be said: How tragic that our materialadvancement has gotten so far ahead of our spiritual advancement that westand on the brink of destroying all life on earth. On the other hand it canbe said: How good that we finally realize that military victory is impossible,so that immature people and even not-good people now have an incentive tolay down their arms. Both statements are true.
There is no greater block to world peace, or inner peace, thanfear. It has led us to manufacture implements of mass destruction.
What we fear we tend to develop an unreasonable hatred for—so wecome to hate and fear. This not only injures us psychologically andaggravates world tensions, but through such negative concentrationwe tend to attract the things which we fear. If we fear nothing andradiate love, we can expect good things to come. How much thisworld needs the message and the example of love and faith!
Peace and freedom! These things shall be! How soon these thingsshall be—whether now or whether after great destruction and newbeginnings and eons of time—is up to us!
Much research and experimentation needs to be done on peacefulways of resolving conflicts.We can work as groups, or as an individualright where we are, undertaking specific peace projects,commending and strengthening the good wherever we find it.
You can only expect to change one nation—your own.After yournation has changed itself, the example may inspire other nations tochange themselves. If any influential nation had the great spiritualstrength to lay down its arms and appear with clean hands before theworld, the world would be changed. I see no evidence that any influentialnation has such great spiritual strength and courage.Thereforedisarmament will be a slow process, motivated by the wish to survive.
The darkness that we see in our world today is due to the disintegrationof things out of harmony with God’s laws. The basic conflictis not between nations, it is between two opposing beliefs.
The first is that evil can be overcome by more evil, that the endjustifies the means.This belief is very prevalent in our world today. Itis the war way. It is the official position of every major nation.
Then there is the way that was taught two thousand years ago—of overcoming evil with good, which is my way, the way Jesustaught. Never lose faith: God’s way is bound to prevail in the end.
In order for the world to become peaceful, people must becomemore peaceful. Among mature people war would not be aproblem—it would be impossible. In their immaturity people want,at the same time, peace and the things which make war. However,people can mature just as children grow up.Yes, our institutions andour leaders reflect our immaturity, but as we mature we will electbetter leaders and set up better institutions. It always comes back tothe thing so many of us wish to avoid: working to improve ourselves.
The sanctuary of peace dwells within. Seek it out and all thingswill be added to you.We’re coming closer and closer to the timewhen enough of us will have found inner peace to affect our institutionsfor the better. And as soon as this happens the institutions willin turn, through example, affect for the better those who are stillimmature.
Peace will probably come to the world in the same way as it hascome to our land. Out of the chaos of civil war, Indian wars and theduels of hundreds of years ago, has come order. Mechanisms have beenset up to avoid physical violence, while psychological violence stillendures.The smaller units, the states, have given up to the larger unit,the United States, the right to make war. Yes, I think the time willcome when the smaller units, the nations, will give up to the largerunit, the United Nations, one single right: the right to make war.
I don’t believe the nations would or should give up other rights.
People have the most control over their affairs at a grass-roots level.
Anything that can be fairly and efficiently handled at a grass-rootslevel should be thus handled, and only delegated to a higher authoritywhen necessary.
The United Nations would have as its job maintaining a peacefulsituation in the world. As long as we remain immature the UNwould have a police force to deal with individual offenders againstthe peace of the world—by removing them, I would hope, for theirrehabilitation. Also it should have an unarmed peace force to dealwith war prevention. While our nation can deal with problems likean inadequate food supply, the UN would have to deal with problemslike a country striving for freedom—and freedom is now thedesire of all human hearts.
I once said to a woman who believed in war and Christian values:
“On the one hand you talk about Christian values, on the other handyou say, ‘Isn’t force the only deterrent they respect?’ This has beenour trouble down through the ages—we have given only lip serviceto Christian values, and lived by the jungle law of tooth and claw.Wehave quoted ‘Be not overcome of evil, overcome evil with good’ and thenattempted to overcome evil with more evil, thereby multiplying theevil.We worship God, but have no faith in the working of God’s lawsof love. The world awaits the living of the law of love, which willreach the divine within all human beings and transform them.”
The pastor of a large Canadian church, who had recentlyreturned from a visit to the Orient, told me that the Buddhists aresending two thousand missionaries to convert the Christians to theway of non-violence!
During World War II, an American Sunday School teacher whowas in the Pacific had captured a Japanese soldier. In marching thesoldier to camp, the American discovered that his prisoner spokeEnglish. “You know what,” said the Japanese soldier. “I was once aChristian.” The American deliberated a moment and then said,“Whydid you give up Christianity?” A look of surprise came upon theJapanese soldier, and he answered with a puzzled expression, “Howcan I be a soldier and still be a Christian?”
What people do not realize is that nonviolence can be applied inall situations, including World War II. I met four of the Danish peoplewho used the way of nonviolence and love in World War II, and it wasa wonderful story.
Now, when the Germans occupied France, the French wouldoften kill the German soldier who was patrolling, and then theGermans would wipe out the whole block in retaliation. When theGermans marched into Denmark, the Danish people began aprogram of non-cooperation.You know, they say the way to a man’sheart is through his stomach—many Danish people actually usedthat way.They would say to the German soldier who was patrolling,“As a representative of the Nazi Government, you have no right to behere anymore than we would have the right to be in your land, butyou are also a young man far from home. Maybe you’re homesick,and if you as a fellow human being would like to take off your gunbelt and come in and share our evening meal with us, you arewelcome.” It usually didn’t take more than one try. After that theGerman soldier would get to thinking, “Gee, these are nice people.
What are we doing here?”
The Danes also used nonviolent ways to protect the Jewishpeople in Denmark.
I met a Jewish woman who had been married and living with herparents in Germany under Hitler at the time of World War II. Shewas married when she was sixteen. Her first child was born whenshe was seventeen and the second when she was eighteen. She wasnineteen when three things happened to her. The first: her home wasdestroyed and her parents killed by an English bomb. I guess theythought they were liberating her. The second thing that happened:
her husband was taken away by the Nazis, and she assumed he wasdead because she never heard from him again. The third thing thathappened: she was injured and her two small children were killed byan American bomb.When I saw her she still carried the effects of theinjury. Again, we were ‘liberating’ her.
In her injured condition she wandered round and round with therefugees. Sometimes extenuating circumstances make you take aspiritual leap. She began thinking, They have injured and even destroyedour bodies, but they have injured their own souls, and that is worse. She wasable to feel compassion and pray for all connected with the situation,the killed and the killer. She was able to maintain such a good attitudethat she was befriended by German people, who at the risk oftheir lives, got her to England where she was befriended by the Englishpeople, and eventually got to the United States.
Now obviously this represents the most amazing victory of thespirit under the most difficult circumstances you could possiblyimagine. It also illustrates something else. Who or what was thatwoman’s enemy? Was it the English who destroyed her home andkilled her parents, or the Germans who killed her husband, or theAmericans who injured her and killed her two small children? Theanswer is amazingly obvious: it was war that was her real enemy. Itwas the false belief that violence will accomplish something, that evilcan be overcome by more evil. That was her real enemy, and it’s thereal enemy of all mankind.
Just as a human soul that faces great difficulties also faces greatopportunities for spiritual growth, so a human society that facesdestruction also faces the opportunity to enter a period of renaissance.
I think that, barring an accident, the wish to survive will keepus from a nuclear war. And I think both sides will change.We willmove toward more economic and social democracy, and they willmove toward more political and individual democracy. The idealsociety has yet to be built—one which balances nicely collectivewell-being and individual well-being.
Stories about Non-Violence.
One day as I was musing beside an old fort, I wondered what itwould say to the people of the world if it could speak, and I wrotethis article:
AN OLD FORT SPEAKSWhen I was built much time and money was spent on me,because it was thought that I would defend the city against allinvaders. Now I stand forlorn, since it does not require great wisdomto recognize that I am obsolete. But I am not the only materialdefense which is obsolete. Even the most modern of them are obsoletenow, although you in your fear and your bewilderment still clingto them. But while in your immaturity you lavish your time and yourtreasure upon them, you know in your hearts that they cannotdefend you against anything. You know that you stand, seeminglydefenseless, facing a new age, while the nuclear bomb says to you,“Make peace or perish!” But are you really defenseless because allmaterial defenses have crumbled as they were bound to crumble?
Have you forgotten the defense which cannot crumble, the defensewhich lies in obedience to higher law? Down through the ages yourbest teachings and your best selves have been telling you that evil canonly be overcome by good, and experience has shown that if youwant to make friends you must be friendly. When will you havewisdom enough to forsake the path to annihilation and turn to thedefense which is timeless and ageless and changeless? People ofearth, the decision is before you! You can still choose life, but youmust choose quickly!
THIS STRANGE CREATURE CALLED MANAn outsider might view this strange creature called Man thisway:
A Being from another world parked his space ship in an isolatedspot. The next morning he passed a military camp, where he sawmen sticking knives fastened to odd looking poles into bags of straw.
“What is this?” he asked a uniformed youth. “Bayonet practice,”
answered the youth.“We’re practicing on dummies.We have to learnto use the bayonet a certain way to kill a man. Of course we don’tkill many men with bayonets.We kill most of them with bombs.”
“But why should you want to learn to kill men?” exclaimed theBeing, aghast. “We don’t,” said the youth bitterly. “We are sent hereagainst our will and we don’t know what to do about it.”
That afternoon the Being passed through a large city. He noticeda crowd gathered in a public square to see a uniformed youth beingdecorated with a medal. “Why is he being decorated with a medal?”
inquired the Being. “Because he killed a hundred men in battle,” saidthe man beside him. The Being looked with horror upon the youthwho had killed a hundred men and walked away.
In another part of the city the Being heard a radio announcingloudly that a certain man was soon to be executed. “Why is he to beput to death?” asked the Being. “Because he killed two men,” said theman beside him.The Being walked away bewildered.
That evening, after the Being had thought the matter over, heopened his notebook and wrote: It seems that all youths are forced tolearn how to kill men efficiently.Those who succeed in killing a large numberof men are rewarded with medals.Those who turn out to be poor killers andsucceed in killing only a few men are punished by being put to death.
The Being shook his head sadly and added a postscript: It looks asthough this strange creature called Man will exterminate himself very quickly.
A Vision of Hope for Peace.
At the end of my forty-five day period of prayer and fasting, as Ilay between sleeping and waking, a wonderful vision came to me...
a vision of hope. I saw the nations of the world arming for war. Ispoke to them, but they would not listen. I wept for them, but theypaid no attention. I prayed for them, and then as I looked about meI saw that the people of the world were praying with me. Next Inoticed that a luminous mist was rising above us as we prayed, and itgradually took form. A radiant figure emerged whose white robeswere full of light and whose face was so bright I could scarcely lookupon it. When the figure spoke the gentle voice had the power ofthunder. “Put up your swords!” the figure said. “Those who take thesword shall perish by the sword!” And the nations of the worldlooked up startled and dropped their armaments, and the people ofthe world rejoiced together.
More Thoughts on Peace and Disarmament.
I would like to emphasize again that right prayer leads to rightaction, that “faith without works is dead.” An excellent way to putthoughts into action is to write a letter for peace.
Disarmament is slow in materializing—partly because fear is soprevalent, partly because there are vain hopes that arms might stillaccomplish some desired objective, partly because some economiesseem to be functioning rather profitably in a situation of war preparation.
The new age demands higher values.Those who spoke of peacewere once called idealists, but in this nuclear age the idealists havebecome the only realists.We have always thought of ourselves ashaving high ideals. Let us apply some of them in this crisis situation.
Believing that war is contrary to the will of God and to commonsense, and feeling that the way of peace is the way of love, I shallwork for peace by using the way of love myself, by helping any groupI am a part of to use it, by helping the nation of which I am a citizento use it, by helping the United Nations to use it, and by praying thatthe way of love be used all over the world.
I would say to the military:Yes, we need to be defended; yes, weneed you. The Air Force can clean up the air, the Marines can takecare of the despoiled forests, the Navy can clean the oceans, theCoast Guard can take care of the rivers, and the Army can be used tobuild adequate drainage projects to prevent disastrous floods, andother such benefits for mankind.
We limit ourselves by thinking that things can’t be done. Manythink peace in the world is impossible—many think that inner peacecannot be attained. It’s the one who doesn’t know it can’t be donewho does it!
The basic cause of all our difficulties is immaturity.That’s why Italk so much about peace within ourselves as a step toward peace inour world. If we were mature, war would not be possible and peacewould be assured. In our immaturity we do not know the laws of theuniverse, and we think evil can be overcome by more evil. Onesymptom of our immaturity is greed, making it difficult for us tolearn the simple lesson of sharing...
Now, I realize that sometimes the symptoms become so acutethat if we don’t work on them we might not survive to work on thecause, so during the war in Vietnam I did participate in some peaceablepeace demonstrations.That was an amazing time.The people ofthis country stopped the war in Vietnam, in spite of the government.
It just shows the power of the people of this country.
Then there are symptoms of symptoms, like extensive starva-tion. I would like to give everyone access to pure food, pure water,and pure air. I would like to be able to supply all their material needs,and also give them access to good food for thought, and beautifulsurroundings and all things that inspire.You don’t have to be verygood at arithmetic to figure out that if the nations of the world wouldstop manufacturing implements of destruction, the conditions for avery good life could be provided for all people.
We must walk according to the highest light we have, encounteringlovingly those who are out of harmony, and trying to inspirethem toward a better way. Whenever you bring harmony into anyunpeaceful situation, you contribute to the cause of peace.When youdo something for world peace, peace among groups, peace amongindividuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total peacepicture.
We must never forget that disobedience to God’s laws brings disaster,although people eventually do learn by their own mistakes.
Now let’s look at our world. A poor, war-weary world.What’sthe matter with us? We’re so way off on the material side: even if wedo not have it we desire it.We are so lacking on the spiritual side:
whenever we discover all the technological advances, the first thingwe do is to turn them into weapons and use them to kill people.Thisis because our spiritual well-being lags so far behind. The validresearch for the future is on the spiritual side.We need to bring thetwo into balance so we’ll know how to use well the material wellbeingwe already have.
During the war in Vietnam there was intense peace activity.Whenthe war was finished there was a letdown and a period of apathyresulted. I suppose this was inevitable. It happens after every war.
After every war there is also a period of violence. I saw it afterboth World War I and World War II. I remember after World War II aman in Camden, New Jersey had just killed five people on the street,and when they grabbed him he said, “You taught me to kill.” He wastaught by the military. The man who shot from the University ofTexas tower and killed fifteen people and wounded others was taughtby the military during the Vietnam War.
The Price of Peace.
We seem always ready to pay the price for war.Almost gladly wegive our time and our treasure—our limbs and even our lives—forwar. But we expect to get peace for nothing.We expect to be able toflagrantly disobey God’s laws and get peace as a result.Well,we won’tget peace for nothing—and we won’t get peace by disobeying thelaws of God.We’ll get peace only when we are willing to pay theprice of peace. And to a world drunk with power, corrupted bygreed, deluded by false prophets, the price of peace may seem highindeed. For the price of peace is obedience to the higher laws: evilcan only be overcome by good and hatred by love; only a good meanscan attain a good end.
The price of peace is to abandon fear and replace it with faith—faith that if we obey God’s laws we will receive God’s blessings.Theprice of peace is to abandon hate and allow love to reign supreme inour hearts—love for all our fellow human beings over the world.Theprice of peace is to abandon arrogance and replace it with repentanceand humility, remembering that the way of peace is the way of love.
The price of peace is to abandon greed and replace it with giving, sothat none will be spiritually injured by having more than they needwhile others in the world still have less than they need.
People of the world, the time for decision is short. It is measuredin a few years. The choice is ours as to whether or not we will paythe price of peace. If we are not willing to pay it, all that we hold dearwill be consumed in the flame of war. The darkness in our worldtoday is due to the disintegration of things which are contrary toGod’s laws. Let us never say hopelessly this is the darkness before astorm; rather let us say with faith this is the darkness before the dawnof the golden age of peace, which we cannot now even imagine.
For this, let us hope and work and pray.
CHAPTER 9: Extensions of Pacifism
MANY PEOPLE KNOW the simple spiritual law that evil can only beovercome by good. Pacifists not only know it, they also attempt tolive it. In their attempt to live it they refuse to use or sanction the useof physical violence. Those who oppose war but would use physicalviolence in their personal lives I would call war resisters but not pacifists.
Those who use the non-violent method only because theybelieve it to be the most effective method I would call nonviolentresisters but not pacifists. Pacifists use the nonviolent way becausethey believe it to be the right way, and under no circumstances wouldthey use or sanction the use of any other way.
The animal nature thinks in terms of using ‘the jungle law oftooth and claw’ to eliminate all opposition. But this law solves noproblems for humans; it can only postpone solutions, and in the longrun it worsens things.
Some nations, even while they are using the jungle law in theirdealings with other nations—while they are at war—recognize thatpacifists cannot act that way and exempt them from military service.
Instead they usually either serve in non-military ways or spend timein prison.They are often called conscientious objectors.There are, ofcourse, very few conscientious objectors, because very few haveattained sufficient inner awakening at such an early age.
When I talk about extensions of pacifism, I realize that I am speakingjust to fellow pacifists, a very small group in any modern society.
With this small group, a group that I admire and respect very much, Iwould like to discuss three extensions of pacifism that I have made.
I have extended my pacifism to include non-use of psychologicalviolence as well as non-use of physical violence. Therefore I nolonger become angry. I not only do not say angry words, I do noteven think angry thoughts! If someone does an unkind thing to me, Ifeel only compassion instead of resentment. Even upon those whocause suffering I look with deep compassion, knowing the harvest ofsorrow that lies in store for them. If there were those who hated me,I would love them in return, knowing that hatred can only be overcomeby love, and knowing that there is good in all human beingswhich can be reached by a loving approach.Those who use the nonviolentmethod without love may have difficulty. If you force peopleto do things your way without helping to transform them, the problemis not really solved. If you can remember that we are not really separatefrom one another it may increase your wish to transform insteadof subdue. And to extend your pacifism to include non-use of psychologicalviolence as well as non-use of physical violence.
I wouldn’t recommend civil disobedience except as a last resort.
In general, people can accomplish much more out of jail than theycan behind bars. Nor would I encourage any threatening action thatadvocates psychological violence as a solution to problem solving.
What is done to a single person affects us all.
I have extended pacifism to include non-payment for war as wellas non-participation in war. Therefore I no longer knowingly payfederal taxes. For more than forty-three years I have lived belowincome tax level. I admit, of course, that there is a second reason forthis: I cannot accept more than I need while others in the world haveless than they need. Naturally I have never paid taxes on liquor ortobacco because I have never used these items, but I also don’t payluxury tax because I don’t use luxury items and I don’t pay amusementtax because I don’t patronize amusements.
Now, the federal government may be supporting some things weapprove of, but unfortunately it is not presently possible to pay forthem and not for war. A pacifist would answer no were the federalgovernment to say, “If you will spend half of your time on war activitiesyou may spend the other half of your time on good works.” Yetthere are pacifists who answer yes when it is a question of moneyinstead of time. I realize that human beings tend to be inconsistent inone way or another, but since I feel I must be as consistent as I knowhow to be I have extended my pacifism to include non-payment forwar as well as non-participation in war.
I have extended my pacifism to include non-harming of creaturesas well as non-harming of human beings.Therefore for many years Ihave not eaten flesh—not meat, fowl, or fish. I also don’t use furs orfeathers, leather or bone. I realize that some people are vegetariansmerely for health reasons, and are not necessarily opposed to war.
Some people may miss the eating of flesh, but I do not. I don’t craveanimal flesh any more than the average person craves human flesh. Ithink most pacifists—in fact, most modern human beings—wouldnot eat flesh if they had to kill the creatures themselves. I think if youwere to visit a slaughterhouse it might encourage you to extend yourpacifism to include non-harming of creatures as well as non-harmingof human beings.
There is an awakening taking place today which may very welldevelop into a new renaissance. Perhaps the wish to survive is pushingus this way . . . perhaps it is the realization that something mustbe done about our present plight that motivates us. Groups that havetraditionally used violence are talking about nonviolent resistance.
People who have participated enthusiastically in war activities arebecoming war resisters. An ever increasing number of people arebecoming pacifists. I am, therefore, expecting the pacifists to moveforward also and make some extensions of their pacifism.
The following quotations were among the few notes that Peace Pilgrimcarried in the pockets of her tunic:
General Omar Bradley: “Wars can be prevented just as surely asthey can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must sharein the guilt for the dead.”
General Douglas MacArthur: “I have known war as few men nowliving know it. Its very destructiveness on both friend and foe hasrendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.”
Pope John XXIII: “If civil authorities legislate for or allow anythingthat is contrary to the will of God, neither the laws made nor theauthorizations granted can be binding on the consciences of the citizens,since God has more right to be obeyed than men.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Every gun that is made, every warshiplaunched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft fromthose who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and notclothed.” Speaking “as one who has witnessed the horror and lingeringsadness of war—as one who knows that another war couldutterly destroy this civilization,” he warned against the militaryindustrialcomplex.
John F. Kennedy: “Mankind must put an end to war, or war willput an end to mankind ...War will exist until that distant day whenthe conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestigethat the warrior does today.”
Lyndon B. Johnson: “The guns and the bombs, the rockets and thewarships, all are symbols of human failure.”
Pope John Paul II: “In the face of the man-made calamity that everywar is, one must affirm and reaffirm, again and again, that the wagingof war is not inevitable or unchangeable. Humanity is not destined toself-destruction. Clashes of ideologies, aspirations and needs can andmust be settled and resolved by means other than war and violence.”
Herman Goering, at the Nuremburg Trials: “Why, of coursepeople don’t want war.Why should some poor slob on a farm wantto risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to comeback to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’twant war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter inGermany.That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of a countrywho determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to dragthe people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship,or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.Voice or no voice, thepeople can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That iseasy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, anddenounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the countryto danger. It works the same in any country.”
I have never met anyone who built a bomb shelter and felt protectedby it. I have never met a modern military man who did notrealize that military victory is a concept which became obsolete withthe coming of the nuclear age, and most civilians realize this also.
Wisdom demands that we stop preparing to wage a war which wouldeliminate mankind—and start preparing to eliminate the seeds of war.
Extensions of Pacifism

CHAPTER 10: Children and the Way of Peace
I MET A COUPLE WHO WERE DETERMINED that they were goingto train their four children in the way of peace. Every night at dinnerthey gave a regular sermon on peace. But one evening I heard thefather scream at the older son.The next evening I heard the older sonscream at the younger son in the same tone of voice.What the parentssaid hadn’t made any impression at all—what they did was whatthe children were following.
Implanting spiritual ideas in children is very important. Manypeople live their entire lives according to the concepts that areimplanted in them in childhood. When children learn they will getthe most attention and love through doing constructive things, theywill tend to stop doing destructive things. Most important of all,remember that children learn through example. No matter what yousay, it is what you do that will have an influence on them.
This is a very challenging area for parents.Are you training yourchildren in the way of love which is the way of the future?
It concerns me when I see a small child watching the hero shootthe villain on television. It is teaching the small child to believe thatshooting people is heroic.The hero just did it and it was effective. Itwas acceptable and the hero was well thought of afterward.
If enough of us find inner peace to affect the institution of television,the little child will see the hero transform the villain andbring him to a good life. He’ll see the hero do something significantto serve fellow human beings. So little children will get the idea thatif you want to be a hero you must help people.
A minister I know spent some time in Russia. He saw no Russianchildren playing with guns. He visited the large toy stores inMoscow, and discovered that there were no toy guns or other toyimplements of destruction for sale.
Peaceful training is given in a few small cultures right within ourlarger culture. I knew a couple who lived for ten or twelve yearsamong the Hopi Indians. They said to me, “Peace, this is amazing—they never hurt anyone.”
I have walked among the Amish people myself. They have sizablecommunities. Peaceful, secure communities with no violence. Italked to them and I realized it’s because they learn, as little childrenonward, that it would be unthinkable to harm a human being. Thereforethey never do it.This can be accomplished if you are brought upthat way. Once a woman brought her four or five year old daughter overto me and said, “Peace, will you explain to my daughter what is goodand what is bad?” I said to the child, “Bad is something that hurtssomebody.When you eat junk food that hurts you, so that is bad.” Sheunderstood. “Good is something that helps somebody. When youpick up your toys and put them back into your toy box that helpsyour mother, so that is good.” She understood. Sometimes the simplestexplanation is best.
When my folks put me to bed they would say to me very wisely,“It gets dark so that it will be restful for you to sleep. Now go to sleepin the nice friendly, restful darkness.” And so to me darkness hasalways seemed to be friendly and restful. And when I’m either walkingall night to keep warm or sleeping beside the road, there I am, inthe nice, friendly restful darkness.
Children need roots somewhere while they are growing up, andparents might do well to choose the place where they want to raisethem before they have them.
CHAPTER 11: Transforming Our Society
I HAVE BEEN ASKED if I have any ideas for peaceful solutions tosome of our world and national problems. For one, I think a verylong stride toward world peace would be the establishment of aworld language.
I first ran into the language barrier in Spanish-speaking Mexico,where I could speak to people only through my translated messageand my smile.Then in the Province of Quebec in Canada I ran into itagain. Canada is a bilingual country.The schools in Quebec are conductedin French, and many of the people in Quebec cannot speakEnglish. I had a translated message, and I was offered food and shelterthrough sign language. But there the communication just aboutended. It made me realize anew the great need for a world language.
I think a committee of experts appointed by the United Nationsshould decide as quickly as possible what language would be best.
Once a world language is decided upon it can be taught in all theschools along with the national language, so that very soon every literateperson in the world can talk to every other literate person inthe world. I think this would be the biggest single step we could taketoward world understanding, and a long stride toward world peace.
When we can talk together we will realize that our likenesses are somuch greater than our differences, however great our differencesmay seem.
On Democracy and Society.
I define democracy as control by the people. Slaves are thosewho allow others to control their lives. Insofar as people succeed insolving their problems fairly and efficiently at a grassroots level, theyretain control over their lives. Insofar as they delegate their problemsolving to a higher authority, they lose control over their lives.
We have a goodly amount of individual democracy—for example,the right of a minority of one to continue to speak. And we have a lotof political democracy. We are making progress on social democracy.
If we had social democracy every human being would be evaluatedaccording to merit, not according to groups. We’ve legislated in thatdirection; we need to go a long way still, but we’re getting there.
Where we fall the shortest is in economic democracy. Here wehave not too much control and I’m concerned about this. Remember,if we want to set a good example to the world we must improveourselves. I’ll tell you a sad story:
I was walking through someone’s living room.Two comedians ontelevision were making jokes before a live audience and one of themsaid, “I got a medal from my company.” “Why?” “I found a way tomake their product wear out quicker!” And everybody in that liveaudience laughed.
This is no laughing matter. Raw materials are in short supply;energy is running out. Future generations will look upon us as idiotsfor manufacturing for obsolescence.Yes, everybody knows what weare doing and they even laugh about it. This needs to be remedied,obviously.
The other thing that needs to be remedied is unemployment. Iam terribly concerned about it. Some seven or eight million of ourfellow human beings in this country are unemployed.And what doesthat do to people? They deteriorate psychologically because they arebeing told by society that they are not needed, that there is no placefor them. Unemployment is a terrible thing.We need to remedy thisand we need to remedy it immediately.
I would suggest that after a certain length of time all employableunemployed could apply for community work, funded as welfare isfunded.The work wouldn’t even need to be full time, but they wouldbe earning what they received.
There is no psychologically well person who does not wish to bemeaningfully occupied with something. I understand there are a fewpsychologically sick people—especially those who have been unemployedfor a long time and have terribly deteriorated. But this is nottrue of most people. Most people would actually jump at the chanceto be able to do something.
From a spiritual point of view, the best way to cope with anythingthat is out of harmony, such as communism as it is practicedtoday, is never to fear it—that gives it power. Bring good influencesto bear upon it; make yourself a good example. Never try to overcomeit by adopting its false philosophy. For instance, part of thephilosophy of communist governments is said to be ‘The end justifiesthe means’—which is actually the philosophy of all countries that usewar as a means. Rather, adopt the spiritual philosophy of ‘The meansdetermine the end,’ and remember only a good means can really attaina good end.
We can only change through example. Therefore, if I had thepower to do so in this country I would set a very gentle, good example.
I would establish a Peace Department in our government. Itwould have very useful work to do. It would research peaceful waysof resolving conflicts, war prevention measures and economicadjustments to peace. It would be established with some fanfare andwe would ask every other nation to establish similar departments andcome and work with us for peace. I think many nations would bewilling to do so. Communications among the Peace Departmentswould be a step toward peace in our world.
During the war in Vietnam I asked my correspondents from allover the world the same question: “What country do your fellowcountrymen consider to be the biggest menace to the peace of theworld?” The answer was unanimous. It wasn’t Russia and it wasn’tChina. It was us! I asked, “Why?” The answers varied a bit.The Orientalsanswered, “Because you are the only nation that used thenuclear bomb to kill people, and there is no evidence that you mightnot do so again.” In South America and Latin America they tended tosay, “It’s Vietnam today—it will be us tomorrow.” In Europe andsome other places the answer tended to be, “Your economy worksmost smoothly in a war or war preparation period,” or, “In yourcountry there is big money to be made on war or war preparation.”
I don’t like to report this, it’s a negative thing, but I do think weneed to see that the countries of the world do not always see our kindheart when they look across the sea. Instead they are apprehensiveabout our actions.
I would like to see us not only take all the steps we can in thedirection of disarmament and peace in the world, I would also like tosee us set a better and better example in the world.
Within the last couple of years a number of my foreign friendshave said to me, “Russia signed Salt II, why didn’t you sign it? Are youless interested in disarmament than the Russians?” I couldn’t answerthem. I wish we had signed it. It was a gentle step, not nearlyenough, but we should have signed it, then worked hard for Salt IIIand every agreement that we could get.
On my pilgrimage across Canada I was invited to speak duringthe Youth Choir Concert of the union of Spiritual Communities ofChrist, commonly known as Doukhobors, a pacifist group whichmigrated from Russia in the last century. I said to them, “You have aspecial message to this world, specifically in Russia. Since many ofyou speak Russian, why not send a mission of peace to Russia? Thischoir, for example? You have a unique opportunity to talk to them intheir own language, moreso than the usual delegation that oftencannot communicate with them. This sort of exchange is necessaryin the present historical crisis.”
The United Nations needs to be improved.We people of theworld need to learn to put the welfare of the whole human familyabove the welfare of any group. Starvation and suffering needs to bealleviated.An extensive exchange of people among the nations of theworld would be very helpful.
There are some national problems in connection with peace —work needs to be done on peace among groups. Our number onenational problem, however, is the adjustment of our economy to apeacetime situation.
Community Peace Action.
In this crisis period there should be a community peace committeein every town. Such a group can begin with a handful of concernedpeople.
I have been suggesting that Community Peace Fellowships startwith a Peace Prayer Group for seeking the way of peace. At the firstmeeting consider inner peace. Pray about it and discuss it. If youbecome aware of some inner block which is hampering your spiritualprogress, concentrate between meetings on removing that block. Atthe second meeting consider harmony among individuals. If you realizethat you are out of harmony with some person, do somethingbetween meetings to remedy this. At the third meeting consider harmonyamong groups. Between meetings try to do something as agroup to show friendliness toward or to help some other group. Atthe fourth meeting consider peace among nations. Take actionbetween meetings by commending someone who has done somethinggood for peace. At the next meeting, start all over again.
In some places my literature has been used for their prayergroups, since it deals with peace from a spiritual viewpoint. Read aparagraph, dwell on it in receptive silence, then talk about it. Haveas many prayer meetings as you need to get through the literature.
Anyone who can understand and feel the spiritual truths containedtherein is spiritually ready to work for peace.
Then would come a Peace Study Group.We need to get a clear pictureof what the present world situation is like and what will beneedful to convert it into a peaceful world situation. Certainly allpresent wars must cease. Obviously we need to find a way to laydown our arms together.We need to set up mechanisms to avoidphysical violence in the world where psychological violence stillexists.
After world problems and steps toward their solution becomepretty clear to you, you and your friends are ready to become a PeaceAction Group.You can become a Peace Action Group gradually, actingupon any problem that you have learned to understand. Peace actionshould always take the form of living the way of peace. It can alsotake the form of letter-writing: to legislators about peace legislationyou are interested in, to editors on peace subjects, to friends on whatyou have learned about peace. It can take the form of public meetingswith speakers on peace subjects, distributing peace literature,talking to people about peace, a peace week, a peace fair, a peacewalk, a peace parade, or a peace float. It can take the form of votingfor those who are committed to the way of peace.
You have much more power when you are working for the rightthing than when you are working against the wrong thing. And, ofcourse, if the right thing is established wrong things will fade away oftheir own accord. Grassroots peace work is vitally important. Allwho work for peace belong to a special peace fellowship—whetherwe work together or apart.
Some of the steps toward peace that I talked about when Istarted out have now been taken or at least begun. An extensivepeople-to-people approach is well under way, with studentexchanges and cultural exchanges. Research on peaceful ways ofresolving conflicts is now being done at a number of our colleges,and courses are being taught also by our neighbor, Canada.
I believe it is quite possible for us to obtain an outer peace at thepresent time. Historically speaking, when human beings are facedwith the choice between destruction and change, they are apt tochoose change, and it’s about the only thing that will make themchoose change. So we have the possibility at the present time to takea different direction in the world—the possibility exists!
Little people of the world, let us never feel helpless again. Let usremember that if enough of us ask together even very big things likeworld disarmament and world peace will be granted. Let’s asktogether!
CHAPTER 12: The Way of a Pilgrim
ONCE I WAS ASKED, “What do peace pilgrims do?”A peace pilgrimprays and works for peace within and without. A peace pilgrimaccepts the way of love as the way of peace, and to depart from theway of love is to depart from the way of a peace pilgrim. A peacepilgrim obeys God’s laws and seeks God’s guidance for one’s life bybeing receptively silent. A peace pilgrim faces life squarely, solves itsproblems, and delves beneath its surface to discover its verities andrealities. A peace pilgrim seeks not a multiplicity of material things,but a simplification of material well-being, with need level as theultimate goal. A peace pilgrim purifies the bodily temple, thethoughts, the desires, the motives. A peace pilgrim relinquishes asquickly as possible self-will, the feeling of separateness, all attachments,all negative feelings.
Now traditionally a pilgrim walks on faith without any visiblemeans of support. I walk until given shelter. I fast until given food.
It must be given, I never ask. But it is given!
Everything is given to me and I pass it on.You must give if youwant to receive. Let the center of your being be one of giving, giving,giving.You can’t give too much, and you will discover you cannotgive without receiving. This kind of living is not reserved for thesaints, but is available for little people like you and me—if we reachout to give to everybody.
It is my mission as a pilgrim to act as a messenger expressingspiritual truths. It is a task which I accept joyfully, and I desire nothingin return, neither praise or glory, nor the glitter of silver andgold. I simply rejoice to be able to follow the whisperings of aHigher Will.
I have much to offer: I deal primarily with living God’s laws. Iextend to others the mystical approach to God, the kingdom of innerpeace. It is free, there is no charge.
There was a time—when I attained inner peace—when I died,utterly died to myself. I have since renounced my previous identity.
I can see no reason to dwell upon my past, it is dead and should notbe resurrected. Don’t inquire of me—ask about my message. It’s notimportant to remember the messenger, just remember the message.
Who am I? It matters not that you know who I am; it is of littleimportance.This clay garment is one of a penniless pilgrim journeyingin the name of peace. It is what you cannot see that is so veryimportant. I am one who is propelled by the power of faith; I bathein the light of eternal wisdom; I am sustained by the unending energyof the universe; this is who I really am!
I always have a feeling of awe and wonder at what God can do—using me as an instrument. I believe that anyone who is fully surrenderedto God’s will can be used gloriously—and will really knowsome things—and will probably be called self-righteous. You’re calledself-righteous if you are self-centered enough to think you knoweverything—but you may also be called self-righteous by the immatureif you are God-centered enough to really know some things.
My desire is to strive toward perfection; to be as much in harmonywith God’s will as possible; to live up to the highest light Ihave. I’m still not perfect, of course, but I grow daily. If I were perfectI would know everything and be able to do everything; I wouldbe like God. However, I am able to do everything I am called to do,and I do know what I need to know to do my part in the Divine Plan.
And I do experience the happiness of living in harmony with God’swill for me.
Any praise I receive does not change me, for I pass it right alongto God. I walk because God gives me the strength to walk, I livebecause God gives me the supply to live, I speak because God givesme the words to speak. All I did was to surrender my will to God’swill. My entire life has prepared me for this undertaking. This is mycalling.This is my vocation.This is what I must be doing. I could notbe happy doing anything else.
When I began my pilgrimage I left the Los Angeles area withouta cent, having faith that God would provide me with everything Ineeded. Although I have never asked for anything, God has providedme with everything along the way.Without ever asking for anythingI’ve been supplied.
I have faith that God will care for me, and God does provide myneeds. I don’t in any way feel insecure because I don’t know where Iwill sleep at night, where or when I will eat next. When you havespiritual security, you have no more feeling of need for materialsecurity. I don’t know anybody who feels more secure than I do—and, of course, people think I am the poorest of the poor. I knowbetter, I am the richest of the rich. I have health, happiness, innerpeace—things you couldn’t buy if you were a billionaire.
I do my work easily and joyously. I feel beauty all around me andI see beauty in everyone I meet, for I see God in everything. I recognizemy part in the Life Pattern and I find harmony through gladlyand joyously living it. I recognize my oneness with all mankind andmy oneness with God. My happiness overflows in loving and givingtoward everyone and everything.
For light I go directly to the Source of light, not to any of thereflections. Also I make it possible for more light to come to me byliving up to the highest light I have. You cannot mistake light comingfrom the Source, for it comes with complete understanding so that you canexplain it and discuss it. I recommend that way to all who can take it.
And great blessings lie in store for those who are wise enough toquickly put into practice the highest light that comes to them.
That which is received from without can be compared withknowledge. It leads to believing, which is seldom strong enough tomotivate to action. That which is confirmed from within after it iscontacted from without, or that which is directly perceived fromwithin (which is my way) can be compared with wisdom. It leads toa knowing, and action goes right along with it.
In my dealings with people, I don’t chastise, nor do I issue edictsor lay down a blueprint. My appointed work is to awaken the divinenature that is within. This is my calling, to open doors of truth andmake people think, to arouse others from their apathetic and lethargicstate, and get them to seek out for themselves the inner peacewhich dwells within. This is the extent of my undertaking, I can dono more.The rest I leave to a higher power.
Faith is a belief in things that your senses have not experiencedand your mind does not understand, but you have touched them inother ways and have accepted them. It is easy for one to speak offaith; it is another thing to live it.To me, faith represents that peoplecan, through their own free will, reach out and contact God, andgrace represents that God is always reaching toward people.To me itis very important that I remain in constant contact with God, ordivine purpose.
People have had to make up for their spiritual impoverishmentby accumulating material things. When spiritual blessings come,material things seem unimportant. But spiritual blessings do notcome until we desire them and relinquish desire for material things.
As long as we desire material things this is all we receive, and weremain spiritually impoverished.
Those who have overcome self-will and become instruments todo God’s work can accomplish tasks which are seemingly impossible,but they experience no feeling of self achievement. I now knowmyself to be a part of the infinite cosmos, not separate from othersouls or God. My illusory self is dead; the real self controls the garmentof clay and uses it for God’s work.
When I started out, my hair had started to turn to silver. Myfriends thought I was crazy. There was not one word of encouragementfrom them.They thought I would surely kill myself, walking allover. But that didn’t bother me. I just went ahead and did what I hadto do.They didn’t know that with inner peace I felt plugged into thesource of universal energy, which never runs out. There was muchpressure to compromise my beliefs, but I would not be dissuaded.
Lovingly, I informed my well-meaning friends of the existence of twowidely divergent paths in life and of the free will within all to maketheir choice.
There is a well-worn road which is pleasing to the senses andgratifies worldly desires, but leads to nowhere. And there is the lesstraveled path, which requires purifications and relinquishments, butresults in untold spiritual blessings.
There is a spark of good in everybody, no matter how deeply itmay be buried. It is the real you. When I say ‘you’ what am I reallythinking of? Am I thinking of the clay garment, the body? No, that’snot the real you.Am I thinking of the self-centered nature? No, that’snot the real you.The real you is that divine spark. Some call this theGod-centered nature, others the divine nature and the Kingdom ofGod within. Buddhists know it as nirvana; the Hindus refer to it asthe awakened soul; the Quakers see it as the Inner Light. In otherplaces it is known as the Christ in you, the Christ Consciousness, thehope of glory, or the indwelling spirit. Even some psychologists havea name for it, the superconscious. But it is all the same thing dressedin different words.The important thing to remember is that it dwellswithin you!
It does not matter what name you attach to it, but your consciousnessmust ascend to the point through which you view theuniverse with your God-centered nature. The feeling accompanyingthis experience is that of complete oneness with the UniversalWhole. One merges into a euphoria of absolute unity with all life:
with humanity, with all the creatures of the earth, the trees andplants, the air, the water, and even earth itself. This God-centerednature is constantly awaiting to govern your life gloriously.You havethe free will to either allow it to govern your life, or not to allow itto affect you.This choice is always yours!
From all things you read, and from all people you meet, take whatis good and leave the rest. For guidance and for truth it is much betterto look for the Source through your own inner teacher than to lookto people or books. Only if something within you says, “This is thetruth. This is for me,” does it become a part of your experience. Afteryou have read all the books, and heard all the lectures, you must stilljudge what is for you. Books and people can merely inspire you.
Unless they awaken something within you, nothing worthwhile hasbeen accomplished. But if you must read books, read many books, sothat you will contact as many conflicting opinions as possible. In thismanner you’ll be required to form your own opinions after all.
Think about all the good things of your life. Never think aboutyour difficulties. Forget yourself, and concentrate on being of serviceas much as you can in this world, and then, having lost your lowerself in a cause greater than yourself, you will find your higher self:
your real self.
What I speak of is not an easy undertaking, but I can assure youthat the end of your spiritual journey will be well worth the pricepaid.There are many hills and valleys. The struggle is like climbing,with each hilltop a little higher than the last.
Some have asked if I accept ‘disciples.’ Of course, I do not. It isnot healthy to follow another human being. Every person must findhis or her maturity. The process takes time, the growth period isdifferent for each individual.
Why do you look at me? Look at your own self.Why do youlisten to me? Listen to your own self.Why do you believe in what Isay? Do not believe in me or any other teacher, rather trust in yourown inner voice. This is your guide, this is your teacher.Your teacheris within not without. Know yourself, not me!
Walk with me, but don’t follow me blindly. Hold fast to thetruth, not to my garments. My body is merely a clay structure; todayit is here, tomorrow it shall be gone. If you attach yourself to metoday, what are you going to do tomorrow when I am not with you?
Attach yourself to God, attach yourself to humanity, only then willyou be closer to me.
The path of the seeker is full of pitfalls and temptations, and theseeker must walk it alone with God. I would recommend that youkeep your feet on the ground and your thoughts at lofty heights, sothat you may attract only good. Concentrate on giving so that youmay open yourself to receiving; concentrate on living according tothe light you have so that you may open yourself to more light; getas much light as possible through the inner way. If such receivingseems difficult, look for some inspiration from a beautiful flower ora beautiful landscape, from some beautiful music or some beautifulwords. However, that which is contacted from without must be confirmedwithin before it is yours.
Remember that one who does an unworthy deed is in reality psychologicallysick, and should be regarded with as much compassion asone who is physically sick. Remember that no one can hurt youexcept yourself. If someone does a mean thing to you, that person ishurt. You are not really hurt unless you become embittered, or unlessyou become angry and perhaps do a mean thing in return.
I consider myself a server working on the cause of difficulties:
our immaturity. And yet only a small minority are willing to workwith cause. For every person working on cause there are thousandsworking on symptoms. I bless those who are working on the outerlevel to remove symptoms, but primarily I continue to work on theinner level to remove cause.
It is because most people have not found their purpose and functionthat they experience painful disharmony within, and thus thebody of humanity is headed for chaos. Most of us fall short muchmore by omission than by commission: “While the world perishes we goour way: purposeless, passionless, day after day.”
In my work I have chosen the positive approach. I never think ofmyself as protesting against something, but rather as witnessing forharmonious living. Those who witness for, present solutions. Thosewho witness against, usually do not—they dwell on what is wrong,resorting to judgment and criticism and sometimes even namecalling.
Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect onthe person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect.
When an evil is attacked, the evil mobilizes, although it may havebeen weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives itvalidity and strength. When there is no attack, but instead goodinfluences are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does theevil tend to fade away, but the evildoer tends to be transformed.Thepositive approach inspires; the negative approach makes angry.Whenyou make people angry, they act in accordance with their baserinstincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people,they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly andrationally.Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes hasa life-long effect.
There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughtsyou are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you.Thecriterion is: Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there issomething wrong with them—so keep seeking! If what you do hasbrought you inner peace, stay with what you believe is right.
When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind ofperson who can live at peace with others. Inner peace is not foundby staying on the surface of life, or by attempting to escape from lifethrough any means. Inner peace is found by facing life squarely, solvingits problems, and delving as far beneath its surface as possible todiscover its verities and realities. Inner peace comes through strictadherence to the already quite well known laws of human conduct,such as the law that the means shape the end: that only a good meanscan ever attain a good end. Inner peace comes through relinquishmentof self-will, attachments, and negative thoughts and feelings.
Inner peace comes through working for the good of all.We are allcells in the body of humanity—all of us, all over the world. Eachone has a contribution to make, and will know from within what thiscontribution is, but no one can find inner peace except by working,not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.

The End